Giant wasp nest found

Press, 12 March 1985, Page 3

Giant wasp nest found

A giant wasp nest has been found in Mount Thomas Forest. Hunters discovered the nest, about three metres high, rising from a base on the ground about 2.5 metres wide. Fortunately they were warned of its presence by the steady humming of the wasps, which were of the common German type.

The Forest Service was alerted and a Rangiora apiarist, Mr Steven Bozi, who has beehives in the forest, was called in to kill the wasps with D.D.T. After checking a section of the hive, Mr Bozi has estimated that the nest had about 31 million cocoons, it had 118 entrances, and was

built among beech forest down a steep slope. Mr Bozi cut through the nest lengthwise with a handsaw. At first it was thought that the nest had been built round an old stump but nothing was found in the centre. It appears to have begun on the ground. “Normally they are half underground. It is unusual for them to be built on top of the ground,” said Mr Bozi.

He said he thought it would have taken about three years to build the nest. It was a very fine soft tissue paper-like fibre that crumbles to dust when handled. The wasps had

used bark from surrounding trees.

Wasps could wipe out a hive of bees in half a day, Mr Bozi said. More cooperation by people who found nests could help eradicate wasps, he said. People should report finds to beekeepers or the Forest Service.

About three metres from the nest is a bees’ nest in a beech tree. Mr Bozi said that wasps would not attack nests as such, but wait for honey-laden bees that failed to land on the pad where they would be protected by other bees. If they fell, wasps would descend on them.