Wasps with DWV?

[ScadsOBees]

Ok, a bee question, not a honeybee question....

Last night the kids found a wasp walking in the grass in the backyard. It had no wings. Shortly later I found another in the front yart, it had wings but one was a little scrunched up.

Can wasps catch Deformed Wing Virus? Or can this be caused by the heat?

http://tinyurl.com/fjd2s

[peggjam]

It's possible, depending on what requirements the virus has for a suitable host. I haven't seen any like that before. Wonder if mites infect wasps like they do honeybees?

[Kieck]

What kind of wasp was it?

I've seen wasps with amputated wings many times, and, just like wings of honey bees, wasps' wings will fray over time. I've seen insects with deformed wings for many reasons, usually due to improper conditions for expansion as the insects emerge as adults (eclose).

I don't know whether or not DWV can infect other species. Wasps are even in different families than bees, so I wonder if it could make such a big jump.

[ScadsOBees]

European paperwasp
They weren't frayed, definately crumpled (or missing in the other case). New, young looking wasp.

>>I've seen wasps with amputated wings many times, and, just like wings of honey bees, wasps' wings will fray over time. I've seen insects with deformed wings for many reasons, usually due to improper conditions for expansion as the insects emerge as adults (eclose)
I was thinking that too, it was just the second one that I saw that made me wonder. Probably the heat.

I was kinda hopeing maybe this would be a way to get rid of more of the mean nasty things.

thanks, rick

[Dick Allen]

Why can't they get a virus that causes deformed wings? It likely isn't the same virus that causes deformed wings in honey bees, but it seems plausible to me that a virus particular to wasps could cause them to have deformed wings.

Like honey bees, bumble bees sometimes are plagued with nosema. It isn't precisely the same organism causing nosema in bumble bees; theirs is caused by nosema bombi instead of nosema apis.

Small hive beetles have been shown to infest bumble bee nests.

And what about all this bird flu stuff we hear so much about? A virus from an entirely different class is reported to be thought capable of becoming infectious to humans.

>...just like wings of honey bees, wasps' wings will fray over time...
I think that's where I'd place my money, too, if I were betting though.

[ August 02, 2006, 11:10 PM: Message edited by: Dick Allen ]

[megank]

European paperwasp
They weren't frayed, definately crumpled (or missing in the other case). New, young looking wasp.

I was kinda hopeing maybe this would be a way to get rid of more of the mean nasty things. As long as it the European Paper wasp...that's fine with me. Here in the Seattle area these invasive wasps have all but driven the indiginous paper wasp to local extinction

[ August 03, 2006, 02:20 AM: Message edited by: megank ]