How can I tell bees from wasps?

Look at three things: the body, what it is eating, and the nest. Fairfax County's Park Authority sums up the body difference: bees have a more robust, hairy body, while wasps are typically hairless, with a slender body and a narrow waist.^[1] Pollen and nectar are the main food of bees, while wasps and hornets scavenge, feeding on other insects, food left lying around and decaying fruit.^[1] And hornets are a kind of wasp,^[1] not a separate group.

Getting the name right matters, because the right response depends on it. Carpenter bees can be treated by a homeowner, a honey bee colony is worth calling a beekeeper for, and a yellowjacket nest in a wall is a job to leave alone.

The bees you are likely to see

• Carpenter bees. Carpenter bees are large bees about an inch long, often mistaken for bumble bees, but their abdomen is shiny and black, while a bumble bee's abdomen is fully covered with hair.^[2] Carpenter bees cut a round hole about half an inch across into bare wood and tunnel along it.^[2] See how to get rid of carpenter bees.
• Bumble bees. Big, round and fuzzy all over. Bumble bees nest in cavities, sometimes in old rodent nests, around houses, sheds and small barns.^[2]
• Honey bees. Smaller and fuzzy, often in large numbers on flowers. Honey bees can nest in the wall void of a house, where they build wax comb.^[7] A cluster of thousands hanging from a branch is a swarm; see who removes honey bees without killing them.
• Ground-nesting bees. Andrenid, or mining, bees nest in the soil in spring and may swarm over the ground when people approach, but this is more of a bluff because they rarely sting.^[2]

The wasps you are likely to see

• Yellowjackets. Yellowjackets are black and yellow or orangish in bold patterns, typically half an inch to an inch long, with a defined waist and wings folded lengthwise at rest.^[3] Ground-nesting yellowjackets nest in the ground, in hollow trees and in the wall voids of buildings, often with more than one entrance hole.^[3] They are the ones at your picnic: they scavenge meat and garbage, turn to sugary foods later in the year, and can be nuisance pests from late summer until early autumn, when yellowjacket colonies are at their largest size.^[3]
• Paper wasps. Paper wasps are slender, with long legs, a distinct wasp waist, and wings folded narrowly over the back.^[4] Many are reddish brown with yellow or dark markings, and the invasive European paper wasp is black and yellow and often mistaken for a yellowjacket.^[4]
• Baldfaced aerial yellowjackets. The baldfaced aerial yellowjacket, formerly called the baldfaced hornet, is black with pale markings and a largely white face.^[5]
• European hornets. European hornet, about an inch long with drip-like markings on a mostly yellow abdomen, has been known from Virginia since the 1980s.^[6]
• Cicada-killers. A big one to know is the eastern cicada-killer, a large solitary wasp about 1.5 to 2 inches long that digs tunnels in soil.^[6]

The nest usually settles it

Bees build with wax or bore into wood and soil. Yellowjackets and other social wasps build with paper they make from chewed wood and plant fibres.^[3]

• A round hole in bare wood with sawdust below: carpenter bees.
• Wax comb in a wall void, hollow tree or attic: honey bees.
• An open comb of paper cells under an eave or a railing: paper wasps. Their nests are open combs of papery cells hanging from a stalk, with no outer covering, under eaves, behind loose boards and in light fixtures, grills and birdhouses.^[4]
• A paper ball hanging in a tree: its nest is an oval paper ball with a protective envelope and a single opening at the bottom, usually hanging from a tree limb.^[5] That is the baldfaced aerial yellowjacket.
• A hole in the lawn or a gap in siding with steady traffic: may be yellowjackets, or honey bees if it is a gap in a wall.

Why the difference matters for stings

Solitary bees are the least likely to sting. Mining bees rarely sting, orchard mason bees are very docile and rarely sting, and sweat bees can sting, especially when caught between clothes and sweaty skin, but are otherwise non-aggressive.^[2] Social bees are a different matter. Honey bees are not aggressive but will sting to defend themselves, and they live in large colonies,^[7] so give a swarm, a nest or a busy entrance plenty of room. Paper wasps do not appear to be particularly aggressive unless they are defending their nest.^[4] Unlike honey bees, a paper wasp can sting repeatedly without harming itself.^[4] Yellowjackets release an alarm pheromone when they attack, which brings nestmates in to attack as a group.^[3] Swatting at stinging insects can make them alarmed and cause them to sting,^[1] so step back slowly instead.

About giant hornets: most insects sent to Extension as suspected northern giant hornets have turned out to be European hornets.^[6]

Stop and call a pro if

• Insects are going in and out of a gap in your siding, a wall or the attic. Do not plug it: Virginia Cooperative Extension warns that yellowjackets may chew a new way out into the house, and a nest inside a wall may justify the cost of a licensed pest control operator.^[3] If they are honey bees, call a beekeeper.
• The nest is large, high up, or next to a door or play area.
• Anyone in the house is allergic to stings, or someone has been stung many times.
• You find wax comb or a large cluster of honey bees. Call a beekeeper before anyone sprays.

Getting help on Loclis

You can browse bee and wasp removal, look up pest control around Blacksburg, or read the other pest control answers. If a nest has left damage to siding, trim or a wall that needs fixing afterwards, describe the repair on Loclis.