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Social wasps are relatively large insects that live in colonies of various size. They develop colonies with three castes: queens, drones, and workers. The drones are relatively short-lived males and serve only to fertilize the queens. The queens are long-lived wasps, and their major function is to initiate a colony and then spend their life laying eggs. Once a colony is established, the eggs and young are tended by workers which are nonfertile female wasps that can be very numerous in large colonies. Social wasps cooperatively feed their developing young on a continuous basis, often with chewed-up insects and other animal-derived foods.
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