King Phil Came Over For Good Sex.
King Phil Came Over For Good Sex is a mnemonic tool taught to me years ago to help me remember animal orders of classification. The words in the mnemonic device correlate to the words kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species. Something people take for granted, is how much we can know about an animal simply by knowing its classification. Here we will walk through hornet classification to get an understanding of what they are. I will omit Genus, because the term hornet refers to a genus level group that is difficult to define without genetic data.
Kingdom
Hornets belong to the kingdom animalia. Members of animalia are eukaryotic, multi-cellular, and must ingest other organisms to obtain energy.
Phylum
Hornets belong to the phylum arthropoda. Arthropods have exoskeletons, segmented bodies and jointed appendages. Arthropoda contains insects, crustaceans, myriapodans and arachnids.
Class
Hornets belong to the class insecta. c'mon now. This class has been all about insects; I think you can manage this one on your own.
Order
Hornets belong to the order hymenoptera. Hymenopterans have membranous wings, and the back wings are connected to the fore wings via tiny hook-like structures. Hymenopterans also typically have a modified ovipositor (egg laying organ), for example: an ovipositor modified to be a stinger. This order of insects includes bees, ants and wasps.
Family
Hornets belong to the family vespidae. Vespidae is the group of insects that contains wasps and hornets. What separates these from other bee-like hymenopterans is mainly body structure and head shape.
King Phil Came Over For Good Sex is a mnemonic tool taught to me years ago to help me remember animal orders of classification. The words in the mnemonic device correlate to the words kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species. Something people take for granted, is how much we can know about an animal simply by knowing its classification. Here we will walk through hornet classification to get an understanding of what they are. I will omit Genus, because the term hornet refers to a genus level group that is difficult to define without genetic data.
Kingdom
Hornets belong to the kingdom animalia. Members of animalia are eukaryotic, multi-cellular, and must ingest other organisms to obtain energy.
Phylum
Hornets belong to the phylum arthropoda. Arthropods have exoskeletons, segmented bodies and jointed appendages. Arthropoda contains insects, crustaceans, myriapodans and arachnids.
Class
Hornets belong to the class insecta. c'mon now. This class has been all about insects; I think you can manage this one on your own.
Order
Hornets belong to the order hymenoptera. Hymenopterans have membranous wings, and the back wings are connected to the fore wings via tiny hook-like structures. Hymenopterans also typically have a modified ovipositor (egg laying organ), for example: an ovipositor modified to be a stinger. This order of insects includes bees, ants and wasps.
Family
Hornets belong to the family vespidae. Vespidae is the group of insects that contains wasps and hornets. What separates these from other bee-like hymenopterans is mainly body structure and head shape.
Life Cycle
Hornets are hymenopterans, which means they are holometabolous developers. Organisms that are holometabolous go into a pupated life stage, and emerge as an adult: much like a butterfly. Becauase hornets are eusocial, their life cycles resemble that of the honey bee.
The hive is founded by a queen female, the time of the year this happens is dependent on the species. The nest is built by first constructing horizontal pockets of paper called combs; the nest walls are then build around these; the nest is built inside of a sheltered environment, such as a hollow tree. Once the nest is built, the new queen will lay eggs in each of the combs she created. Just over a week later, the eggs will hatch into hornet larva (Shown in far left of the image in the top left of this section). The queen will feed these larva a protein rich insect diet, and the larva will grow for about two weeks; after this, the larva will cover their cells in silk (shown in the middle of the image in the top left of this section), and undergo metamorphosis. An adult (shown in the far right of the image to the top left of this section), will then emerge. All these adult will be female, and they will take over for the queen as workers; they will begin hunting and defending the nest while the queen lays eggs. The new female workers will also take care of these new eggs, and raise them into future working females.
As the colony grows larger, new combs are added and the nest is made bigger. Eventually, the queen will have another queen produces, who can go off and start a new colony.
This life cycle varies amongst different species, but it is an accurate template to go by.
Hornets are hymenopterans, which means they are holometabolous developers. Organisms that are holometabolous go into a pupated life stage, and emerge as an adult: much like a butterfly. Becauase hornets are eusocial, their life cycles resemble that of the honey bee.
The hive is founded by a queen female, the time of the year this happens is dependent on the species. The nest is built by first constructing horizontal pockets of paper called combs; the nest walls are then build around these; the nest is built inside of a sheltered environment, such as a hollow tree. Once the nest is built, the new queen will lay eggs in each of the combs she created. Just over a week later, the eggs will hatch into hornet larva (Shown in far left of the image in the top left of this section). The queen will feed these larva a protein rich insect diet, and the larva will grow for about two weeks; after this, the larva will cover their cells in silk (shown in the middle of the image in the top left of this section), and undergo metamorphosis. An adult (shown in the far right of the image to the top left of this section), will then emerge. All these adult will be female, and they will take over for the queen as workers; they will begin hunting and defending the nest while the queen lays eggs. The new female workers will also take care of these new eggs, and raise them into future working females.
As the colony grows larger, new combs are added and the nest is made bigger. Eventually, the queen will have another queen produces, who can go off and start a new colony.
This life cycle varies amongst different species, but it is an accurate template to go by.
Stings
If a bee stings you, it will die shortly after: this is because a bees stinger is barbed, and the stinger will be pulled out of the bee after the sting. You will not be so lucky should a hornet sting you; for hornets do not have barbed stingers and can sting multiple times with stopping.
In addition, hornets are very much hunters (as apposed to bees which more often get their food from plants). Because they hunt, hornets have evolved a more potent venom in their venom gland near the inside of the stinger (which as mentioned before, is a modified ovipositor). The direct result of this more potent venom is a more painful sting to humans. Hornets do eat nectar as well, and can therefor act as pollinators.
If a bee stings you, it will die shortly after: this is because a bees stinger is barbed, and the stinger will be pulled out of the bee after the sting. You will not be so lucky should a hornet sting you; for hornets do not have barbed stingers and can sting multiple times with stopping.
In addition, hornets are very much hunters (as apposed to bees which more often get their food from plants). Because they hunt, hornets have evolved a more potent venom in their venom gland near the inside of the stinger (which as mentioned before, is a modified ovipositor). The direct result of this more potent venom is a more painful sting to humans. Hornets do eat nectar as well, and can therefor act as pollinators.