Stinging wasps are precious, not pointless, say scientists

Level: Advanced

1
  Warmer

a. Look at the image and discuss the questions below.

• What is this animal?

• What do people normally think about it?
• How is it different from a bee?
• How do you usually react when you see this insect around?
• Have you ever been stung by one?

2
  Key words

a. Write the correct word(s) from the wordpool next to the definitions below. Then, find and
highlight them in the article to read them in context.

ancestor facets gaffer tape nectar paralyse

pests pollen pollinate predators prey
resilient saliva solitary venom voracious

1. a word used to describe someone or something that eats a large amount of food

2. animals that kill and eat other animals

3. poison produced by some animals, especially snakes and insects

4. carry powder produced by flowers from one flower to another, which helps it to produce seed

5. insects or small animals that damage plants or supplies of food

6. able to survive despite problems and difficulties

7. an earlier form from which something else has developed

8. living alone and not in groups or families

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 Stinging wasps are precious, not pointless, say scientists
Level: Advanced
9. make something lose the ability to move its body

10. an animal that is caught and eaten by another animal

11. the liquid produced by glands in your mouth

12. a sweet liquid that some flowers make and that insects and birds drink

13. a powder produced by flowers, carried by the wind or insects to other flowers so that they can
produce new seeds

14. aspects of something

15. strong sticky cotton cloth strip used to hold things together or to hide cables

b. Use some of the key words above to complete these sentences.

1. Spiders usually catch their by building webs.

2. The count is very high today, so if you have hay fever,

stay indoors.

3. She’s a person – she won’t be unhappy for long.

4. The snake uses its to paralyse its victims.

5. Several key crops failed when they were attacked by .

6. Caterpillars are , cabbage-leaf eaters.

7. He led a rather existence on the island.

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 Stinging wasps are precious, not pointless, say scientists
Level: Advanced
Much-hated insects are
voracious predators of pests,
produce powerful antibiotics
and pollinate plants
Damian Carrington
29 April, 2021
1 For those who have asked what the point
of wasps is, there is now a comprehensive
answer. They are voracious predators of pest
insects, produce powerful antibiotics in their
venom, pollinate plants and even make a
nutritious snack.
2 The benefits to humans of the much-hated
insects are revealed in the first major scientific
review of the ecosystem services they provide.
It focused on the 33,000 known species of
hunting wasps, which carry stings and live in
every corner of the world.
3 Yellowjackets and hornets, the picnic pests
that have given wasps a bad name, make up
a small proportion of all wasp species. But even
they provide help that is little known, such as
hoovering up caterpillars on vegetable patches.
Yellowjacket venom is also being investigated
as a promising cancer treatment.
4 Many insect populations are plunging,
threatening human wellbeing, but wasps
seem to be more resilient. Even among
entomologists, however, many appear to
avoid them, and the scientists said much more
research was needed to understand them.
5 “When I tell strangers I study wasps they go,
‘Oh, what’s the point of wasps?’” said Professor
Seirian Sumner at University College London.
“Why don’t you study bees instead? They’re
much more useful.” Her previous research
showed people hated wasps because they
were unaware of what they did.
6 “We’re quite happy with the idea that bees
sting because we know that they do good in
the world,” she said. “So we have gathered the
evidence available to put wasps on the map in
terms of their ecosystem services. Wasps could
be just as valuable as other beloved insects like
bees, if only we gave them more of a chance.”
7 The study, published in the journal Biological
Reviews, analysed 500 scientific reports on
stinging wasps. There are 100,000 known
wasp species, but 70,000 are parasitic,
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which are stingless and quite well studied.
They are already used in farming to control
pests without using insecticides. There are
about 22,000 species of bees. “Wasps are
the ancestor of bees, so bees are wasps that
have forgotten how to hunt,” said Sumner.
8 Wasps are top predators of the insect world.
Recent research found that common hunting
wasps can control the fall army worm that
attacks maize crops in Brazil, and a borer
moth that eats sugarcane. The use of other
predatory insects to protect crops is estimated
to be worth more than $400bn a year, but
hunting wasps have barely been considered,
the scientists found.
9 Yellowjackets and hornets are among those
likely to be most effective because they are
social insects and live in large colonies. “So
you’re having lots of hunters going out there
and removing insects and arthropods,” said
Sumner. About 1,000 of the hunting wasp
species are social. The rest are solitary.
10 “Solitary wasps are super cool. Their venom
has an incredible cocktail in it that paralyses
the prey and also has lots of antibiotics in it,”
said Sumner. Many solitary wasps bury their
eggs with paralysed prey to provide food
once hatched. “So they want to make sure the
food is properly preserved.” The antimicrobial
properties of wasp venom, saliva and larval
secretions have long been recognized in
traditional medicine.
11 Sumner’s analysis found evidence of wasps
visiting at least 960 plant species, of which
164 were completely dependent on them for
pollination. They include orchids whose flowers
attract male wasps by mimicking the back end
of a female wasp.
12 Hunting wasps visit flowers to feed on nectar,
as the insects they catch are fed exclusively
to the larvae back in the nest. Scientists do
not know yet if this behaviour actually pollinates
plants. “But what’s likely to be useful are the
much-hated yellowjackets because, when you
put those under a microscope, they’re really
quite hairy and can be covered in pollen,”
Sumner said.
13 Wasps, particularly the larvae, are also
harvested and eaten by people around the
world from Japan to India to Venezuela.
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 Stinging wasps are precious, not pointless, say scientists
Level: Advanced
14 Overcoming prejudice against wasps will not
be easy, the scientists said, because they have
long been portrayed as hateful. The ancient
Greek polymath Aristotle wrote that “hornets
and wasps have nothing divine about them
as the bees have”. In the Bible, God sends
hornets as punishment to sinners in three
different books.
15 The scientists said: “We look forward to
a future where the critical roles of wasps
in multiple facets of human health and
wellbeing are recognized.”
16 Sumner said she was very careful to avoid
being stung, using gaffer tape to seal up her
bee suit: “They get in places that bees would
never think of. But I did have a student who
got stung 186 times. He gave them a credit in
his PhD thesis.”
© Guardian News and Media 2021
First published in The Guardian, 29/04/2021

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 Stinging wasps are precious, not pointless, say scientists
Level: Advanced
 3   An information box and a short summary

a. Find information in the article and write it under each of the categories in the box.

Potential future benefits

Basic facts about wasps Current benefits of wasps
of wasps

b. Write a short summary of the main points of the article by answering these questions.

• What are the usual opinions about wasps?

• Why are these opinions wrong?

• What are some ways in which wasps are beneficial to the environment?

• How could wasps benefit us in the future based on the new research?

4
  Phrases

a. Find phrases in the article that match the meanings below.

1. absolutely everywhere (six words, para 2)

2. make something more well known or popular

(five words, para 6)

3. focusing on a particular aspect that is being discussed

(three words, para 6)

b. Now use each phrase to talk about something relevant to your own life.
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 Stinging wasps are precious, not pointless, say scientists
Level: Advanced
 5   Discussion

a. Discuss the following questions.

• What could be done to make people more tolerant of wasps?

• Tell an anecdote about a wasp or insect experience you have had.

6
  In your own words

a. Research an animal or insect that people commonly think of as a pest. Find out all the positive
things it does for the world and information on how it is used in research. Prepare a short
presentation for the class.

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