Wasps Are Here To Stay

Despite past contentions to the contrary, it may be that the common wasp has made itself a permanent home in Iceland.

Exterminator Magni Þór Konráðsson told RÚV has was recently called out to remove an exceptionally large wasp nest. He also happens to be not particularly optimistic that the species, which is not native to Iceland, will disappear any time soon.

“This prediction from entomologists that the wasp is dying out is impossible to confirm,” he told reporters. “The wasp is here to stay.”

Common wasps were first discovered in Iceland in 1977. Within a decade, the creature managed to distribute itself over much of the capital area, and are a relatively common fixture of Reykjavík summers today.

As spring and summer temperatures in Iceland continue to steadily climb, wasps are having an easier time of making a home for themselves here. Despite this, last year entomologist Erling Ólafsson told Vísir he predicted the species would die out.

In point of fact, both the German wasp and the red wasp were once spotted in Iceland but died out. However, the Norwegian wasp has been faring far better, and as such might very well become just as much a part of Icelandic summers as the insects are in other parts of the world.