A Wasp

<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">A <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">wasp is any <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect" title="Insect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">insect</a> of the order <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenoptera" title="Hymenoptera" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Hymenoptera</a> and suborder <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocrita" title="Apocrita" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Apocrita</a> that is neither a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee" title="Bee" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">bee</a> nor an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant" title="Ant" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">ant</a>. The Apocrita have a common evolutionary ancestor and form a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clade" title="Clade" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">clade</a>; wasps as a group do not form a clade, but are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraphyly" title="Paraphyly" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">paraphyletic</a> with respect to bees and ants.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">The most commonly known wasps, such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowjacket" title="Yellowjacket" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">yellowjackets</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornet" title="Hornet" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">hornets</a>, are in the family <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespidae" title="Vespidae" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Vespidae</a> and are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusociality" title="Eusociality" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">eusocial</a>, living together in a nest with an egg-laying queen and non-reproducing workers. Eusociality is favoured by the unusual <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplodiploid" title="Haplodiploid" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">haplodiploid</a> system of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex-determination_system" title="Sex-determination system" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">sex determination</a> in Hymenoptera, as it makes sisters exceptionally closely related to each other. However, the majority of wasp species are solitary, with each adult female living and breeding independently. Females typically have an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovipositor" title="Ovipositor" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">ovipositor</a> for laying eggs in or near a food source for the larvae, though in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aculeata" title="Aculeata" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Aculeata</a> the ovipositor is often modified instead into a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sting(biology)" title="Sting (biology)" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">sting</a> used for defense or prey capture. Wasps play many <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecology" title="Ecology" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">ecological roles</a>. Some are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predator" title="Predator" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">predators</a> or pollinators, whether to feed themselves or to provision their nests. Many, notably the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuckoo_wasp" title="Cuckoo wasp" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">cuckoo wasps</a>, are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleptoparasite" title="Kleptoparasite" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">kleptoparasites</a>, laying eggs in the nests of other wasps. Many of the solitary wasps are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitoid_wasp" title="Parasitoid wasp" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">parasitoidal</a>, meaning they lay eggs on or in other insects (any life stage from egg to adult) and often <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_provisioning" title="Mass provisioning" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">provision their own nests</a> with such <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host(biology)" title="Host (biology)" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">hosts</a>. Unlike true parasites, the wasp larvae eventually kill their hosts. Solitary wasps parasitize almost every <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pest_insect" title="Pest insect" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">pest insect</a>, making wasps valuable in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horticulture" title="Horticulture" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">horticulture</a> for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_pest_control" title="Biological pest control" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">biological pest control</a> of species such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitefly" title="Whitefly" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">whitefly</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato" title="Tomato" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">tomatoes</a> and other crops.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Wasps first appeared in the fossil record in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic" title="Jurassic" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Jurassic</a>, and diversified into many surviving superfamilies by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous" title="Cretaceous" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Cretaceous</a>. They are a successful and diverse group of insects with tens of thousands of described species; wasps have spread to all parts of the world except for the polar regions. The largest social wasp is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornet" title="Asian giant hornet" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Asian giant hornet</a>, at up to 5 centimetres (2.0 in) in length; among the largest solitary wasps is a group of species known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula_hawk" title="Tarantula hawk" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">tarantula hawks</a>, along with the giant scoliid of Indonesia (<i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megascolia_procer" title="Megascolia procer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Megascolia procer</a>). The smallest wasps are solitary <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalcid_wasp" title="Chalcid wasp" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">chalcid wasps</a> in the family <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mymaridae" title="Mymaridae" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Mymaridae</a>, including the world's smallest known insect, with a body length of only 0.139 mm (0.0055 in), and the smallest known flying insect, only 0.15 mm (0.0059 in) long.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Wasps have appeared in literature from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_era" title="Classical era" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Classical times</a>, as the eponymous chorus of old men in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristophanes" title="Aristophanes" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Aristophanes</a>' 422 BC comedy Σφῆκες (<i lang="grc-Latn" title="Ancient Greek-language romanization" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Sphēkes), <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wasps" title="The Wasps" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">The Wasps</a>, and in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction" title="Science fiction" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">science fiction</a> from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.G.Wells" title="H. G. Wells" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">H. G. Wells</a>'s 1904 novel <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Food_of_the_Gods_and_How_It_Came_to_Earth" title="The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth</a>, featuring giant wasps with three-inch-long stings. The name "Wasp" has been used for many warships and other military equipment