Bee, Wasp, or Yellow Jacket?

Bee, Wasp, and Yellow Jacket Identification

I have to confess: It's a huge pet peeve of mine when people call wasps and yellow jackets "bees." I'm not even a beekeeper. I guess it just upsets me because it gives bees a bad rap ... and they have enough trouble already without people thinking they're getting into their pop cans at picnics.

If you're allergic to bee stings, you have excellent reason to be afraid of bees, but for the rest of us, the benefits far outweigh the risks of these generally gentle creatures. Bees are one of the most important pollinators in the world. In fact, it would be safe to say that the human race wouldn't exist if not for bees.

Bee identification is relatively easy. Both visual and behavioral clues can help you decide exactly who is buzzing in your garden. Here are the species of buzzing buddies we'll be looking at:

1. Honeybee
2. Bumblebees and Carpenter Bees
3. Yellow Jackets
4. Wasps and Hornets
5. Other Species

1. Honeybee

The common European honeybee is not native to the Americas; she was imported by European settlers and quickly became a vital assistant for American farmers and gardeners.

She is fuzzy and compact, and her black and yellow coloring is rather dull. Strictly vegetarian, she is not one to show interest in your picnic lunch, though she may occasionally come over to investigate a brightly colored shirt. Otherwise, she spends most of her time gathering pollen from flowers.

She has only a single sting, and it kills her to use it, so she will generally choose flight rather than fight unless she feels her hive is threatened. She might also sting if caught, sat on, slapped at, or otherwise cornered.

It should be noted that Africanized honeybees, which look very similar to the European variety, are more aggressive, particularly in defense of their nest. If you live in an area where Africanized honeybees are known to live, be wary of anything that looks like a honeybee and avoid swarms. (Africanized bees swarm more often than European bees.)

2. Bumblebees and Carpenter Bees

I think bumblebees are cute. They are also furrier, much larger than honeybees, and their coloring is often brighter, though this varies from species to species.

Like honeybees, they are excellent pollinators who spend their lives visiting flowers and will not show interest in human foods.

Though bumblebees are capable of stinging multiple times, they are generally even less aggressive than honeybees. The exception is if their hive is threatened.

Bumblebees are commonly confused with carpenter bees, which are of similar size and form. However, carpenter bees have shiny black butts instead of furry striped (usually) ones. Though considered a nuisance by some for their habit of nesting in deadwood, including sometimes the walls or window frames of houses or barns, carpenter bees are good pollinators, and it is worth attempting to move them to a more suitable location rather than killing them outright.

Drone carpenter bees might appear more aggressive than the gentle females, but they are generally just curious and don't have a stinger, even if they intend to harm. The sting of the females is fairly mild and unlikely to occur unless handled.

3. Yellow Jackets

You could almost say a yellow jacket looks more like a bee than a bee does. At any rate, they're smooth and shiny, and their black and yellow stripes are bright flags yelling "bee! bee!" at people who don't know better.

Although yellow jackets, which are really a kind of wasp, occasionally visit flowers, they are extremely inefficient pollinators because of their smoothness. Their preferred food is actually other insects and fruit.

They are considered semi-beneficial because they eat many caterpillars and insect pests that damage crops and garden plants. However, when these natural food sources begin to decrease in late summer and fall, they become a nuisance species.

They are attracted to odors that are meaty or sugary, which is why, if there's an annoying "bee" that persists in trying to steal your picnic, there's a very good chance it's actually a yellow jacket. Yellow jackets are also known to hang around beehives attempting to steal honey.

Unlike bees, yellow jackets are aggressive and free to sting you as many times as they want without injury to themselves. Some people are allergic to yellow jacket stings, so they should be treated with considerably more caution than most honeybees.

4. Wasps and Hornets

There are many different varieties of wasps with other appearances and habits. Many are carnivorous or omnivorous and are considered beneficial due to their taste for common garden pests such as caterpillars.

Wasps are generally smooth-bodied and shiny, with less compact bodies than bees. For example, you might barely notice the legs of a bee when it is flying, but the legs of a wasp trail down behind it in flight very noticeably.

Wasps also often have very narrow waists, and the term "wasp-waisted" was used in Victorian times for a certain type of silhouette that underwent several periods of popularity and resembled the segmented body of the wasp: with a tiny, heavily corseted waist accented by the broader bust and hips above and below.

Wasps look terrifying, with their long spidery legs and evil-looking faces, but most are actually quite gentle. As with many bees, the primary exception is the social wasps if they feel their nest is threatened. If you have a caterpillar problem, a nest of hornets might be the best thing that ever happened to your garden, but whatever you do, DON'T try to move it! Those ladies are mean when angry and quite happy to sting you a hundred times each if they can.

Other Species

North America has many native solitary bees. These bees are usually less aggressive than social bees because they do not have a hive to defend. Most are also excellent pollinators, and there is growing interest in their use as alternative pollinators due to colony collapse disorder and other problems afflicting domesticated and feral honeybees.

Additionally, many species of fly mimic bees in appearance and/or behavior. Most are entirely harmless to humans.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Comments

Louise89 on November 12, 2019:

Trying to figure out what built a nest on my porch, this was very helpful.

DavidK on December 14, 2017:

@KathleenC, you know it almost sounds like something I ran into. One summer day I was driving in Northern Virginia with my windows down, and this huge yellow-jacket looking thing flew in my car and started crawling around, so I immediately parked my car in a Wells Fargo parking lot and got the hell out.

From the way I remember it, which I still remember quite vividly, the thing was as long as my index finger and the coloration of the smooth exo-skeleton was bright yellow with typical yellow jack black patterns.

What was really interesting, or perhaps baffling about this bug was that, the diameter of its body was torso. It also didn't look like a wasp or hornet in that the head didn't look like a separate peripheral, but part of the torso. Visually, it resembled the diameter of a thumb, narrow at the ends, and the length of an index finger.

KathleenC on September 27, 2017:

I just came across something that terrified me. Looks exactly like a yellow-jacket but the body is easily 3x normal length. Huge stinger too. A bit agressive. I was watering plants and spritzed it to knock it down. Took pictures. Anyone have any ideas what this thing might be? Toronto Ontario - 55 yrs and I've never seen anything like this before.

Csf2@frontier.com on August 31, 2013:

Just overnight we have several holes by our sidewalk to the front door. I saw a slender body black wasp? Not sure but it had two yellow stripes and the legs and feet were red in color. They are burroughing in our mulch, beside the sidewalk in Northern Indiana (fort Wayne Indiana to be exact). What are they and what does this mean?

Mel Carriere from Snowbound and down in Northern Colorado on July 11, 2013:

I share your feelings that honeybees are having a hard time and need all the help and support they can get. As a letter carrier I have never had any problems with these bees. If they are buzzing one some flowers next to a mailbox I let them do their job while I do mine, and everyone goes about their job in peace. I do hate yellowjackets, however, ever since I dug one up in the yard as a little boy. Do they next in the ground? I must have stumbled across a nest. They give me the creeps.

Chen on February 13, 2013:

I was not aware there were so many different kinds, I always just thought of them as 'bees'. Love that you learn something new every day here on Hub Pages. Great Hub, voted up & interesting!

Nina on September 03, 2012:

Grat hub but I'm scared of bees,yellow jakets,hornets,and wasp actually to tell the truth im scared of any bug!!! There my worst nightmare and there everywhere!!! I have to check my room every night (every cm) and if there is a bug I call somebody to get it!! Now sometimes I can catch a bug on my own :) but I'm still afraid of ANY BUG and always will be :( God plz help me!!!!

Sinea Pies from Northeastern United States on September 01, 2012:

Excellent hub! I never knew that yellow jackets weren't bees. Voted up and useful and shared.

kandice on August 21, 2012:

My daughter was stung tonight by a black bug that flew through our window in drive thru. She cried horribly and she is only 8 months.The image I googled is similar to the wasp/yellow jacket. But the yellow/orangish color on the wings were exactly like the image I saw called Black Fly. Similar to horse fly. That may be what you saw at the pool.

jwoerdehoff on August 15, 2012:

I found a giant insect in my yard,the markings on the body looked like a yellow jacket but the legs were red,the head was yellow jacket looking but about four times the head of a yellow jacket,and it was big,the body was about two inches with a large wing span,any ideas as to what it is?

Ryan on July 28, 2012:

i got stung years ago at school a bee/wasp was flying around it thought it could land ON ME

i was a bit scared it was climbing up towards my neck so i scooped it up i was going put it on a ledge then it STUNG ME.

ever since then i was scared of them also when my mum and dad

got married my mum planted a type of tree or bush and i have seen loads of bees dad says theres about 60 of them.

good news im a bit worryied when i see bees but im not scared as much as i used to be.

by the way im a guy.

helix on July 24, 2012:

I think the answer to the horse-fly story and you were swimming is a yellow jacket

trapped911 on July 09, 2012:

I have lately been feeling as if I am a prisoner of my own home. I am very big on being outdoors even in the triple digits we've been having lately. Moral is I'm very frustrated that I am being ran in by what I think are yellow jackets. The only thing is I can't positively ID them cause the markings don't match exactly what they should. Colors are black, yellow & amber(reddish/brown.) What seems off is the eyes are yellowish rather than black and there are 2 yellow dots above the tripping of yellow & black on their butts. They seemed to just have all of a sudden shown up over the last 2 weeks. The territory they have chosen is the pool & play area. At first they didn't seem too aggressive just many hovered in the trees above. Some swarming in and out and others just sitting on leaves watching us like guards. As the week has gone on they began flying around more swooping at us. As the days go by they seem to be brodening their territory and are much more aggressive to the point that cleaning the pool I need a second pair of eyes to guard myself. I have been watching from a distance and can not pin point where a nest may be. As many as there are and how ugly there being there has to be a nest close. Its hard to deal with something your not sure about ID and cant find a nest. Its almost like they have no nest they've just taken up residency in the trees and are guarding the whole property. Ugh what to do what to do... I have young children... I live in south west Missouri. Any comments or suggestion would be great. Fearing walking out my own door :o(

maggs224 from Sunny Spain on July 07, 2012:

What a great hub I enjoyed reading it immensely and I love the photographs you used.

I love bees and I love photographing bees so your hub has two of my favourite things.

I am voting this hub up and hitting some buttons on my way out.

ginobili on June 24, 2012:

the other day a friend and i were swimming in an above ground pool and an insect that looks almost exactly like a horse-fly landed on my head so i went underwater to shake it off then it decided to land on my friend and he swore that it had a stinger is there a stinging insect that looks almost like a duplicate of a horse-fly?

helix on April 10, 2012:

i can't tell which it is. It is a huge black bee type insect and it stings (my friend found that out the hard way) but i can't tell if it is a bee, wasp, hornet or yellow jacket. also which insect has the most painful sting?

Tucson girl on March 24, 2012:

Found about a dozen socialites building a few nests under my wooden porch roof. They are yellow with reddish wings. Cant figure if they are wasps or hornets. My guess are wasps but cant find a match. Right now at the beginning stage the nests look like little bee hives, but they certainly are not bees.

Lisa on March 21, 2012:

When I was younger I was stung by yellow jackets at around 18% of my body and almost died and now I'm terified if any wasp, hornets, yellow jackets, or bees come anywhere near me or if I even hear something that sounds like them near me.

me on January 05, 2012:

how long are a bees legs? i need it for work

zig on October 15, 2011:

Saw a golden colored bee that resembled a carpenter bee in size and sound, and shape, but was totally golden, no stripes, very furry, no black at all, what is this, an albino?

madison on October 09, 2011:

my pawpaw just got about 20 stings from a yellow jacket or jackets

Dr Rockpile from USA on September 17, 2011:

I don't mind bumble bees but keep the others away from me please. ;)

mary on September 17, 2011:

A friend was stung by one of the above insects last week and died within the hour. I am also allergic to one of the above but did not see what it was and in fact did not know that I was allergic until about 12 hours after I was stung and ended up in er. I HATE THE FLYING INSECTS AND TEND TO STAY INSIDE MOST OF THE SUMMER! I know they are necessary for pollination but do my best to stay away from them.

peter on September 16, 2011:

It seems that being a "Level 2 or 3 commenter", means they leave the least useful responses.

Terry on August 31, 2011:

i found a wasp today coming out of a gopher hole. i have never seen one come out of the ground. can someone please tell me what kind it is. i live in northern indiana. thank you

RalphGreene on August 23, 2011:

I found great information here. Now, I know their kinds.Good to learn here.

Brandi on May 25, 2011:

I appreciate the info still afraid of both but I can definetley appreciate the difference

bigpaws12 on December 22, 2010:

@ emily and others with "giant bees or wasps" it sounds like a Cicada killing wasp. At first I thought they were wasps or bees on steroids or perhaps irradiated super-power insects courtesy of the local nuclear plant. They were getting in my garage (we leave the door open too much!) at night and attacking the light, getting too close and too curious and assertive when I would go out and weed my beds which are expansive and it became a real pain because while I actually enjoy bumblebees (darn cute they are) I do NOT like a bee as big as my hand buzzing at me like it means me harm, and I am more of a "run, screaming" type. I googled until I found them. Turns out they act like they're tough, but really they're harmless to humans unless you happen to be fast enough to grab and hold a female. They kill Cicadas, obviously, which is something I now respect them for, since I do NOT Like Cicadas nibbling on the branches of my fruit and ornamental trees. Now if someone would PLEASE tell me how to get honeybees the heck away from my saltwater swimming pool (no, they're not sweat bees, they're honey bees, with a serious attitude of greater entitlement) I'd sure appreciate it.

Maria on August 20, 2010:

I think the flower is lambs ear.

Garrett Mickley from Jupiter, Florida on August 04, 2010:

I'm okay with Bees but I haaaaate wasps!

xIcechillx on July 26, 2010:

can someone tell me if there is any varieties of bee, wasps, or hornets that are purple... today i was standing next to my friend in a parking lot and a giant wasp like insect flew by me and i got a clear too at its features. Its body sections were very distinct and i could tell it was a wasp of some sort, but that size and color were nothing I have ever seen. The size of the insect was about the size of a humming bird but a big longer.

Sky3 on June 11, 2010:

I have what appear to be orange wasps living in the roof of my porch. I have been unable to identify them. Can someone help??

Concerned in Texas

theherbivorehippi from Holly, MI on April 14, 2010:

Such a helpful hub! I'm very much in love with whatever that flower/plant is in the picture with the bumble bee?? It is stunning!

Gloria Siess from Wrightwood, California on March 31, 2010:

I love BUMBLEBEES!!

crystal on November 08, 2009:

I have blue bumble bees living in the rear of my home, can someone tell me what these beautiful bees are called I cannot find anything on them anywhere and they are bees I dentified by body just color is different, I have even seen them with the regular honey bees at the side. These light and dark blue bees live under my brick portch and are very bright colored. I would appreciate any help. Special care planting for diets ect....

emily on September 19, 2009:

could you find out what is a big fat evil wasp with a stripeed butt?

Sue on August 19, 2009:

Love your hub.. My 6 yr old daughter got 9 stings the other day. Thankfuly she wasn't allergic. I believe they were either bald faced hornets or blackjackets. It was a ground nest. Can either build their nest in the ground? If they do, do they build their paper nest in the ground? My husband found 5 separate nests on our trails. Why so many this year. We live in the Pacific Northwest.

Kim on August 18, 2009:

About 4 years ago I accidentally discovered a ground yellowjacket nest. If I hadn't been right beside the river, free of items which couldn't afford to get wet, well .. I'd have been done for, I'm sure. As it was, I had at least 4 stings but didn't feel them at the time, just later. While they were swarming around me (like horrid little striped helicopters), I felt removed, aware but not affected. Then a nearly audible voice commanded me to "JUMP" so into the water I went.

My Mom has trouble relating to my fear of them, and I'm trying to control the way I respond (I don't swat at them, but they startle me and I jerk away) ... I'm always glad for the colder months.

Thanks for your post!

Raggits on July 02, 2009:

Great hub. Very informative. But in Missouri, we are having a problem with black and reddish brown wasp/hornet. These flying bombshells are mean. Their nest looks like a paperwasp and they like 'hanging' out in the rabbit hutches. They are hard to get rid of with sprays and we have had to knock them down and smash the nests to keep them from coming back. And there is a 'guard' on duty all the time, so needless to say someone will get stung during our clean up time. Thanks!

kerryg (author) from USA on June 01, 2009:

I would guess a hornet, but they aren't furry. There are several large furry bees, including bumblebees, but they are closer to 1 inch.

kelinda on June 01, 2009:

i have a giant wasp/bee thing in my garden today it looks like a fat dragonfly only furry and yellow and black, what is it ?? looks about 2 inches long!!

Steve Andrews from Lisbon, Portugal on March 11, 2009:

Excellent hub! I love bees and have rescued wasps!

chermarie from Wisconsin on October 26, 2008:

Thank you for this informative hub. I like bees, especially honeybees and other beneficial pollinators. This summer I was stung by an aggressive little wasp while working in the garden. They were just doing what they do, and I was invading their space. I had a bad reaction to this species and had to get the 'bee kit' for any future stings. It has not kept me out of the garden but I am much more aware and tuned in to them.

Patty Inglish MS from USA and Asgardia, the First Space Nation on October 17, 2008:

When I was a child, the large black wasps or hornets looked like deadly flying shrimp to me, with legs handing down. Very large.

moonlake from America on August 18, 2008:

Enjoyed your hub. I can't tell the difference between honeybees and other bees. I do know hornets and wasp.

moefry47 from Texas on June 15, 2008:

I really hate hornets. Bees and wasps are ok ( I know we need em )

kerryg (author) from USA on June 15, 2008:

No, we have hornets also (though I think some of them are European imports) and they're not the same as yellow jackets. However, they're much more similar in their aggressiveness than many other wasps. I like the limerick!

John Welford from UK on June 15, 2008:

Is a yellow jacket what we Brits would call a hornet? If so, your article reminds me of that great, unrhymned limerick:

There was a young man of St Bees

Who was stung on the arm by a wasp.

When they said "Does it hurt?"

He replied "Yes it does,

But I'm so glad it wasn't a hornet".