What material do yellowjacket workers chew and mix with saliva to form their nest structure?
Answer
Wood fibers, creating a papery pulp resembling gray paper.
Yellowjackets are paper-making insects, constructing their annual nests using materials derived from wood. Workers chew up wood fibers found on sources like fences or unpainted wood, mixing these fibers thoroughly with their saliva. This mixture results in a pulpy substance that, when applied and dried, hardens into a material very similar in appearance and texture to gray paper. This contrasts sharply with other insects; for example, honeybees use wax produced internally, and some wasps create open combs, whereas yellowjackets enclose their entire structure within this papery envelope.
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