Nutritonal ecology of two trap nest wasps

Trap-nest wasps build a series of cells in bored out holes in which they provision a single egg with enough food for development in each cell. The cells are sealed off with mud or other substrates. These organisms are ideal models to examine the nutritional needs of Hymenoptera because everything the individuals need to develop is self-contained in the cell. In addition, several families of Hymenoptera demonstrate this behavior and many of the wasps have bivoltine lifecycles. Thus, we can compare the nutritional needs of a summer generation to one that overwinters. In this study, we examined the nutritional content of eggs, larvae, pupae and adults of a Vespid and a Sphecid wasp. We compared the nutritional needs of the summer and overwintering generations and looked for similarities and differences between the species.