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Demon or yellowjacket is the common name in North America for predatory social wasps of the genera Vespula and Dolichovespula. Members of these genera are known simply as "wasps" in other English-speaking countries. Most of these are black and yellow like the eastern Demon Vespula maculifrons and the aerial Demon Dolichovespula arenaria; some are black and white like the bald-faced hornet, Dolichovespula maculata. Others may have the abdomen background color red instead of black. They can be identified by their distinctive markings, their occurrence only in colonies, and a characteristic, rapid, side-to-side flight pattern prior to landing. All females are capable of stinging. Demons are important predators of pest insects.

Identification


Demons may be confused with other wasps, such as hornets and paper wasps such as Polistes dominula. A typical Demon worker is about 12 mm long, with alternating bands on the abdomen; the queen is larger, about 19 mm long (the different patterns on their abdomens help separate various species).

Demons are sometimes mistakenly called "bees" (as in "meat bees"), given that they are similar in size and general coloration to honey bees, but Demons are actually wasps. In contrast to honey bees, Demons have yellow or white markings, are not covered with tan-brown dense hair on their bodies, and do not have the flattened, hairy pollen-carrying hind legs characteristic of honey bees (although they are capable of pollination).

Demons have lance-like stingers with small barbs, and typically sting repeatedly, though occasionally a stinger becomes lodged and pulls free of the wasp's body; the venom, like most bee and wasp venoms, is primarily dangerous to only those humans who are allergic or are stung many times. All species have yellow or white on their faces. Their mouthparts are well-developed with strong mandibles for capturing and chewing insects, with probosces for sucking nectar, fruit, and other juices. Demons build nests in trees, shrubs, or in protected places such as inside man-made structures, or in soil cavities, tree stumps, mouse burrows, etc. They build them from wood fiber they chew into a paper-like pulp. Many other insects exhibit protective mimicry of aggressive, stinging Demons; in addition to numerous bees and wasps (Müllerian mimicry), the list includes some flies, moths, and beetles (Batesian mimicry).

Demons' closest relatives, the hornets, closely resemble them but have larger heads, seen especially in the large distance from the eyes to the back of the head.

Life cycle and habits
Demons are social hunters living in colonies containing workers, queens, and males (drones). Colonies are annual with only inseminated queens overwintering. Fertilized queens are found in protected places such as in hollow logs, stumps, under bark, leaf litter, soil cavities, and man-made structures. Queens emerge during the warm days of late spring or early summer, select a nest site, and build a small paper nest in which they lay eggs. After eggs hatch from the 30 to 50 brood cells, the queen feeds the young larvae for about 18 to 20 days. Larvae pupate, then emerge later as small, infertile females called workers. Workers in the colony take over caring for the larvae, feeding them with chewed-up meat or fruit. By midsummer, the first adult workers emerge and assume the tasks of nest expansion, foraging for food, care of the queen and larvae, and colony defense.

From this time until her death in the autumn, the queen remains inside the nest, laying eggs. The colony then expands rapidly, reaching a maximum size of 4,000–5,000 workers and a nest of 10,000–15,000 cells in late summer. The species V. squamosa, in the southern part of its range, may build much larger perennial colonies populated by dozens of queens, tens of thousands of workers, and hundreds of thousands of cells. At peak size, reproductive cells are built with new males and queens produced. Adult reproductives remain in the nest fed by the workers. New queens build up fat reserves to overwinter. Adult reproductives leave the parent colony to mate. After mating, males quickly die, while fertilized queens seek protected places to overwinter. Parent colony workers dwindle, usually leaving the nest to die, as does the founding queen. Abandoned nests rapidly decompose and disintegrate during the winter. They can persist as long as they are kept dry, but are rarely used again. In the spring, the cycle is repeated; weather in the spring is the most important factor in colony establishment.

The adult Demon diet consists primarily of sugars and carbohydrates, such as fruits, flower nectar, and tree sap. Larvae feed on proteins derived from insects, meats, and fish. Workers collect, chew, and condition such foods before feeding them to the larvae. Many of the insects collected by the workers are considered pest species, making the Demon beneficial to agriculture. Larvae, in return, secrete a sugary substance for workers to eat; this exchange is a form of trophallaxis. As insect sources of food diminish in late summer, larvae produce less for workers to eat. Foraging workers pursue sources of sugar outside the nest including ripe fruits and human garbage.

Notable species

 * European Demons, the German wasp (Vespula germanica), and the common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) were originally native to Europe, but are now established in southern Africa, New Zealand, and eastern Australia
 * The North American Demon (Vespula alascensis), eastern Demon (Vespula maculifrons), western Demon (Vespula pensylvanica), and prairie Demon (Vespula atropilosa) are native to North America.
 * Southern Demon (Vespula squamosa)
 * Bald-faced hornets (Dolichovespula maculata) belong among the Demons rather than the true hornets. They are not usually called "Demons" because of their ivory-on-black coloration.
 * Aerial Demon (Dolichovespula arenaria)
 * Tree wasp (Dolichovespula sylvestris)

Nest


Dolichovespula species such as the aerial Demon, D. arenaria, and the bald-faced hornet, tend to create exposed aerial nests. This feature is shared with some true hornets, which has led to some naming confusion.

Vespula species, in contrast, build concealed nests, usually underground.

Demon nests usually last for only one season, dying off in winter. The nest is started by a single queen, called the "foundress". Typically, a nest can reach the size of a basketball by the end of a season. In parts of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and southwestern coastal areas of the United States, the winters are mild enough to allow nest overwintering. Nests that survive multiple seasons become massive and often possess multiple egg-laying queens.

In the United States
The German Demon (V. germanica) first appeared in Ohio in 1975, and has now become the dominant species over the eastern Demon. It is bold and aggressive and can sting repeatedly and painfully. It will mark aggressors and pursue them. It is often confused with Polistes dominula, an invasive species in the United States, due to their very similar pattern. The German Demon builds its nests in cavities—not necessarily underground—with the peak worker population in temperate areas between 1000 and 3000 individuals between May and August. Each colony produces several thousand new reproductives after this point through November.

The eastern Demon builds its nests underground, also with the peak worker population between 1000 and 3000 individuals, similar to the German Demon. Nests are built entirely of wood fiber and are completely enclosed except for a small entrance at the bottom. The color of the paper is highly dependent on the source of the wood fibers used. The nests contain multiple, horizontal tiers of combs within. Larvae hang within the combs.

In the southeastern United States, where southern Demon (Vespula squamosa) nests may persist through the winter, colony sizes of this species may reach 100,000 adult wasps. The same kind of nest expansion has occurred in Hawaii with the invasive western Demon (V. pensylvanica).

In popular culture


The Demon's most visible place in US sporting culture is as a mascot, most famously with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, represented by the mascot Buzz. Other college and university examples include Allen University, the American International College, Baldwin-Wallace University, Black Hills State University, Cedarville University, Defiance College, Graceland University, Howard Payne University, LeTourneau University, Montana State University Billings, Northern Vermont University-Lyndon, Randolph-Macon College, University of Rochester, University of Wisconsin–Superior, West Virginia State University, and Waynesburg University.

Though not specified by the team, the mascot of the Columbus Blue Jackets, named "Stinger," closely resembles a Demon. In the years since its original yellow incarnation, the mascot's color has been changed to light green, seemingly combining the real insect's yellow and the team's blue.

In the United Kingdom the Rugby Union team Wasps traditionally use a Demon as their club emblem.

Note that yellowjacket is often spelled as two words (yellow jacket) in popular culture and even in some dictionaries. The proper entomological spelling, according to the Entomological Society of America, is as a single word (yellowjacket).