It is not yet time to renew old north-south conflicts, introduce checkpoints along the Mason-Dixon Line, or roll out the muzzleloading rifles and the iron-hulled ships, but there is an invading force from the country’s southern tier that is causing a bit of trouble up our way.

The southern yellowjacket, an aggressive and cantankerous member of the wasp family, has apparently moved into this region in numbers.

“We’re seeing more of them, so the past winter must have been just ideal for this yellowjacket,” said Russell Lamp, an Oregon-based pest control specialist.

Lamp said the southern yellowjacket (Vespula squamosa) is characterized by its black body with distinct yellow markings on the head, thorax and abdomen. The yellow stripes behind the head run parallel to the wings. Lamp said this rowdy guest has taken over the residences of some eastern yellowjackets that are historically more common in this area.

“The southern yellowjacket has a tendency to usurp other colonies. The queen will go in, kill the other queen, and then have the workers raise her brood,” Lamp said. “Two years ago we saw very few of them, but this year is different.”

He has encountered the clusters of southern yellowjackets while looking around the Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan area for the nests of eastern and German yellowjackets. Lamp is collecting those nests of the eastern yellowjackets (Vespula maculifrons) and German yellowjackets (Vespula germanica) as part of a project to produce vaccines.

Collecting the nests and then the venom from the wasps inside is the vital foundation for producing a vaccine that can protect people with severe allergic reactions from what amount to life-threatening stings. After a meticulous cleaning and sorting process, Lamp sends the wasps to pharmaceutical companies in several states where they become part of the vaccine process.

“The demand varies from year to year, but this year these labs need the eastern and German yellowjackets,” Lamp said. “The venom stinger is removed and it takes hundreds of thousands of them just to make one gram of venom. It is a very, very minute amount collected from each stinger.”

Lamp explained that the venom from a yellowjacket is deadlier than that from a king cobra, but the snake injects much, much more venom when it bites.

“This is a program that saves lives, so it’s very important that we get these nests when they are active and full at this time of year,” said Lamp, who has been collecting the nests of various wasps and hornets for more than 30 years. He expects to be collecting nests this year until at least the middle of October.

The local entomologist said many of the nests where he finds the southern yellowjacket has taken over, and those still inhabited by eastern yellowjackets, are in the ground. The nests of the German yellowjackets are sometimes found in buildings. The gray, papery nest material will sometimes protrude from the nest openings in the ground or in walls.

Some of the nests in Texas that are maintained from season to season by southern yellowjackets are huge, “the size of a Volkswagen,” Lamp said. A German yellowjacket nest Lamp recently removed in Perrysburg weighed six pounds.

Lamp said there is an overall abundance of yellowjackets this year, and that could make for some very uncomfortable outdoors gatherings into the fall. In general, these wasps have a nasty disposition and will sting repeatedly. As their numbers have increased throughout the nest production of the summer, many more are now on marauding food raids.

“I wouldn’t want to be planning an outdoor party this time of year,” Lamp said, adding that yellowjackets are attracted to meaty or sugary substances. “They will really go after the carbohydrates, the pop and the beer, and all sorts of foods. The atmosphere at the high school football games should really get interesting.”

In some cases, Lamp will remove the nests of yellowjackets with no charge, if they are large enough, have not been sprayed, and they contain the species he is seeking for the vaccine program. Contact Lamp at 419-836-3710 for more information on nest removal.

The vaccine produced from the venom is essential for the 3 percent of the U.S. population that has a severe allergy to bee, wasp, and hornet stings. These reactions can range from hives to a rapid pulse, difficulty breathing, or shock and cardiac arrest. Bee stings kill more people in this country each year than snake bites, according to a study by Penn State University.

Resistance to these severe allergic reactions to the venom in stings is built up over time through a series of injections that slowly introduce higher concentrations of the bee and wasp venom.

Contact Blade outdoors editor Matt Markey at: mmarkey@theblade.com or 419-724-6068.

First Published September 27, 2016, 4:26 a.m.