But despite their similarities, wasps, yellowjackets, and hornets differ in size, color, and where they build their nests. Even though wasps can be beneficial to your space by eating other pesky pests, they are still aggressive, stinging insects. However, knowing the difference between the three will help you get to the root of your problem… and solve it!
There are two categories of wasps: social and solitary. The wasps that swarm around you at your barbeque are social wasps. Hornets, yellowjackets, and paper wasps are all social wasps. All three live in large colonies with one queen. They commonly have narrow wings that fold longitudinally, nests made of recycled wood fibers, and, of course, the ability to sting repeatedly.
Although these wasps have traits in common, there are a few things that set them apart as well. They can be reddish-orange to black, sometimes with yellow highlights. They build umbrella-shaped nests that are often suspended from eaves or window casings. Many yellow jackets will nest underground, often in a burrow abandoned by a previous animal resident. Some Yellow Jackets will build nests in structures or other above-ground locations, however.
Some Hymenopterans are territorial and become aggressive if they perceive a threat to their home. Bees and wasps release a chemical called an attack pheromone when defending their nest. They sting. Bees and wasps pump out venom through the sting using tiny muscles specifically designed for that task.
Honeybees die after stinging because the barbs prevent them from removing the stinger from its victim. However, the idea that all bees can sting only once — like the honey bee — is a misconception. The majority of individual bees and wasps are capable of repeatedly stinging during a single attack.
While the actual toxins in bees, mellitin, a substance that scientists are investigating for its ability to destroy certain cancer cells that are responsible for the pain and swelling associated with a sting vary from species to species, some human beings experience a serious allergic response to these chemicals, leading, in some cases, to life-threatening anaphylactic shock. Regardless of where they live, what they eat and how scary they are, popular nomenclature regarding the many species of Hymenoptera can be confusing.
All yellow jackets are wasps, but not all wasps are yellow jackets. Fat, fuzzy bumblebees, while pollinators like honeybees are one of the bee species that can sting repeatedly. Regarding its potential to inflict pain and distress, a bumble bee should be approached almost as if it were a wasp. The term "hornet" refers to the largest of wasps. Both yellowjackets and hornets belong to the family Vespidae. These wasps are renowned for their aggressiveness. And yet, were a stray yellow jacket to land on your arm, remaining calm and making no sudden movements to swat or shoo the wasp away will probably be enough to avoid a sting.
Some wasps are solitary rather than social, and some are parasites that may not even be visible to the naked eye. Dirt and mud daubers are also wasps, but they build tubes rather than combs and rarely sting. And because of the danger involved in treating colonies of bee and wasps, only a pest control professional or experienced beekeeper should accept that risk. The division of labor in colonies is similar to that of the bees, though there can be more than one queen present in a single colony.
Hornets and yellow jackets, in spite of their characteristic similarities, have widely different nesting habits. Hornets have nests in the shape of pendulous teardrops which look like the typical beehive. Yellow jackets prefer to nest in confined spaces below the ground, often taking up abandoned rodent nests. Parasitic wasps, which are solitary, do not have nests at all but depend on the bodies of other creatures, at least in their initial stages.
Sometimes, the host is paralysed by certain toxins before the female lays eggs. The host usually dies after the larvae become self-sufficient. Both eusocial bees and wasps have a division of labor based on the sex of the bees.
And the way the sex of the larvae is controlled by the queen for all the social species is simply amazing. Bees and wasps are famously haplodiploid species, meaning that females develop from fertilized eggs while males develop from the unfertilized ones. This is to maintain the eusociality, which includes collective caring for the brood, division of labor according to sex, and generational overlapping. Some wasp species have females who use mechanisms to recognize their brothers and thus avoid inbreeding.
Bees have the most structured social order amongst similar insects. A single queen is the mother of all the drones and workers, which are sterile females. The presence and number of drones vary according to the colony cycle , but a large number of workers unfertile females are always present. Unlike wasps community, where the queen is alone at first, it is the workers who do all the work right from the beginning among bees.
The nests of social wasps including the hornet and yellow jackets are initially built by the queen in the form of paper-thin jacket like structures. The queen then lays eggs which hatch to produce sterile females. These then go on to construct the full-fledged nest, while the queen s lays eggs. The lifespan of the bees depends on their sex. Worker honey bees usually live up to six weeks in the honey production seasons, while the queen of the colony can live for up to five years.
The drone lasts either a mating flight or the summer in case of failure of mating. Once summer is over they are kicked out of the hive and eventually die of cold and starvation. Hornets and yellow jackets have similar lifespans as both are social wasps.
This means on an average, the workers, which are sterile females and the most numerous, live for days. The drones or fertile males live slightly longer than the former to ensure proper insemination. The queens, or the fertile females, which are the least in number, live the longest, like about 12 months. As the female can store sperm, she can do with only a single mating.
As you know by now, no. Bees, hornets, wasps and yellow jackets — all have their set roles to play in the system of nature. And we, as human beings, often benefit from them.
Honey bees, of course, are the only source of natural honey. They also happen to be the best pollinators around, making them the natural preference for gardens and orchards. They are also a source of beeswax. Wasps do not produce honey nor do most of the wasp species help with pollination. But some of them do, and do it well. As most wasps are parasitic at some point in their lives, some species like those belonging to the Trichogrammatidae are used commercially as a biological control for pests.
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