Dead Wasps In A Circle In Attic

[felixmfm]

Last autumn I found a very neat circle of dead wasps in a dry attic bedroom. Have no recollection of a nest of wasps around the house. Think it was Autumn, but not too sure. Afraid I swept it up and did not search for a queen under the pile. Would there have been one, being protected? Why were they there?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[wildwood]

Have you looked at the ceiling/roof above the heap? Maybe there was a resident spider that gorged itself on wasps.

[starone]

Neat circle sounds odd. As wildwood says, sounds more like something feeding on them. I would have thought there would be other signs of them, like one of their nests for instance. Are you sure it was wasps, it could have been those other things, whose name escapes me for the moment, that have striped bodies as camouflage so that birds will think they are wasps and not eat them.

[excelsior-1]

starone ... hoverflies

[felixmfm]

interesting thought about the spider Wildwood. I will check the "drop zone" tomorrow. There were about 50 of them so big happy spider! Fairly sure they were wasps not hoverflies.
still mystified but thanks to all

[Clanad]

Not likely a spider... fact is wasps (at least here in the U.S.) inject venom into spiders, disabling them. They, then put the somnabulant spider into a cell within their nest, later laying an egg in the spiders abdomen which hatches into a larvae and eats the spider from the inside out.

My suspicion is that above where you found the neatly arranged wasps you may find the remains of a wasps nest or at least the area where it may have been attached to the underside of the roof sheating, out of which dead wasps were routinely cleaned out and simply fell into the pattern. Perhaps some other answer may be found, but it's unlikely that spiders killed them...

[wildwood]

^^ Sorry felixmfm, I thought you were in the UK where there are communial nest wasps, not the parasitic wasps.

[Chipchopper]

Wasps seem to be fairly similar the world over and are often attracted to a light source like windows or electric lighting, where they can often be found dead.
Is there any light fittings directly above the pile of bodies ?

[Pigsmayfly]

There would definitely have been a queen and wasps always protect their queen not sure about the circle though I will do a bit more research though.

[Pigsmayfly]

Would it be possible for you to find out the type of wasp or describe that to me and I will be able to find out the answer quicker if you can remember

[RATTER15]

My guess would be they are from a wasp nest that has been treated, they tend to climb up the outside of the round nest before dropping off, it still sounds a bit unlikely I must admit. 13 years as a Pest Controller and I have never witnessed that.