Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

One of the things that are bothering New Zealanders in the late summer and autumn days are wasps. There are a few species that really drive people mad:The German wasp is just one of them; the Chinese paper wasp is another one.They are quite different from each-other and easy to identify:German wasps are stockily-built insects, mostly yellow with some black stripes and spots on their body;The Chinese paper wasps are much more slender and often fly with dangling, long legs. Their bodies are mostly black with thin yellow stripes and spots.There are other distinguishing features (such as nest shapes and sizes and where they prefer to build their nests.But what they have in common is the fact that they have no sense of humour.But this little segment is not about all these details at all… it is about their name, or should I say their names!“German wasp” and “Chinese Paper wasp” are the common names (also known as vernacular names) of the species.Their scientific names are, respectively: Vespula germanica and Polist