bee/wasp/hornet ID

bklysen

Can you fine ladies & gents ID these critters for me? They're pretty common around here and cause me a little concern about my elderly Dad who isn't quite as observant as he once was...lives alone out in the boonies a couple of hours away from me. Anyway, I've encountered a few hives and another nest in some older concrete where they appear to be entering & leaving both through cracks in that, and through holes/entryways beneath the concrete through some landscaping rocks. I'll try to get better pics, but meanwhile I think about a recent thread about yellow jackets. Seems, IIRC, it doesn't take much for them to get their fists all balled up and ready to rock & roll....and that they aren't afraid to hit over & over again.

While taking the few pics I have, very cautiously...I noticed that they stopped everything they were doing and spied me with great suspicion...went into complete 'statue' mode until I slowly backed off. I don't have my bee/wasp/hornet anatomy down very well....but what Googling I've done for images of yellow jackets has shown those 'antannae' I call 'em...to be black, yellowish/translucent wings, and yellow legs. This pic show most of that...but the antennae are yellow...perhaps growing/morphing to black??? Could that be youngsters, perhaps, that are assigned the grunt work on this hive/nest?

Any help is greatly appreciated, as I'm sure all of you know more about bees/hornets/wasps than I do....

Lonewolf-Peru

..although I'm not an expert, I can tell you those are not bees...they are wasps

NN

Paper wasps

NN

Bee glad they are not the red version as their sting is worse.

SirGeorgeKillian

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_jacket

bklysen

NN wrote: »

Paper wasps

Thank You, Sir Ned. :up: Very much appreciated.

I rest a little easier.....

Teach

Paper wasps are not quite as aggressive as yellow jackets, but they can and do swarm and sting if a nest is disturbed. They are extremely defensive if they feel the nest is being threatened. When I was about 6 years old, I thought it would be great fun to attack a paper wasp nest in a birdhouse in my aunt's front yard with a garden hose. WRONG MOVE! I think I got 8 or 10 stings before getting far enough away they quit chasing me.
Jerry

woodsrunner

At first I thought yellowjackets also based on the color pattern--and they might be. But yellowjackets nest in the ground, and the nest will be circular or nearly so. However....all species of these stinging insects will have slightly different appearances and characteristics over widespread home ranges. As a rule if yellowjackets feel threatened-just feel danger is possibly close at hand-every one in the colony goes from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 1 immediately! Wasps, on the other hand, usually will have 1 to 3 standing watch, and if potential danger is sensed these 1-2-3 will usually walk away from the nest and observe the potential danger sizing up the situation before attacking. It's not uncommon for one of these guard wasps to buzz the potential danger and not initially attack, but again they may. You're rolling the dice! If the whole nest feels threatened then every one will join in and attack as Teach points out.

olesniper

When I was a wee lad, we would find their nest under the eaves of a lot of houses. We'd hook up a water hose, for the cool down, then fill a water pistol with alcohol. Squirt the nest and run away. They would return, in a few minutes, and hover close to the nest. When they were all back, we'd drop a white-tipped kitchen match down the barrel of a Daisy BB gun. Bounce the match off the siding and it would strike before burying itself in the soaked nest. The resulting POOF! would singe the wings off of the little buggers, before they could dart away. Hose down the nest, knock it down with a pole and the job was done. Every house in my neighborhood had 4 or 5 black scorch marks under the eaves.

NN

Growing up we had bells like this outside the house:

Used to call me home ect,ect,ect
The paper wasps would make their nests in the top of the bell cavity.
I would ring the bell and run like a banshee, never got stung; but, my
Grandfather and Dad did.

jbohio

I suspect that they vary by region, in appearance as well as what they're called.

Around here, wasps are brown, or reddish brown. Some make paper nests, some make mud nests.
Then there's yellow jackets, which is what you've pictured.
Hornets (at least that's what we call them) make the big round paper nests, and are more black with a yellow or white band.

Get the jet spray foam kinda bee/wasp killer. A can in each hand. Wait till dusk, when they calm down, ATTACK!
The foam stuff is great, sticks to 'em and pins them down till they die.

For maintenance, hang some of the pheremone traps around the place. It attracts the queens when they come around, they drop in and die. Works pretty good.

Teach

Our favorite nest-eradication method involved a can of hair spray, Right Guard deodorant, or starting fluid, and a match. The fireball would shoot 3 or 4 feet and singe the wings off most, if not all the wasps on the nest. I'm amazed we didn't set the house or the garage afire with those antics!
Jerry

Buford

Teach wrote: »

I'm amazed we didn't set the house or the garage afire with those antics!
Jerry

Sometimes you just get lucky. When I think back on some of the stuff I did, it scares me to think about it.

DoctorWho

The mud dauber wasp is dangerous if they try to nest in your shotgun barrel !!!!

They dabble and pack mud in a place it does not belong !!!!!!!! :yikes:

coolgunguy

If leaving a scorch mark is not preffered, just take a container (Mason jar or some such) of gasoline and toss is onto the nest. The wasps will drop RIGHT NOW with no chance of attacking.

orchidman

Over here we call them Asian Paper Wasps. I get their nests on the eaves of the orchidhouses. Normally dont do anything about them as they appear to keep the Bumblebees down ( Bumblebees try to pollinate the flowers and cause them to 'blush' thus making them useless for export).

However, due to their aggressive nature and their 'nearness' to where my staff work, I sometimes have to deal to them.
I use a long length of pvc pipe about 1" in diameter. A 2litre plastic coke bottle with the bottom cut off it and the top taped to the end of the pvc pipe acts like a funnel. Wait till dusk when they are sitting on their nest, carefully approach with a can of industrial strength flyspray in my back pocket, position the 'funnel' end over the nest and spray the flyspray up the pipe. Hold it in position for a minute or two and that fixes them.

If I see any individuals flying around I deal to them with a tennis raquet.

Have done the flyspray/bic lighter thing with them but found it melted holes in the synthetic shadecloth on the orchid houses.............lol.

bklysen

Thanks for the input. When I get back there again they'll be dealt with further, whatever they are. I already found a few spots and took care of those but you can imagine what's on 20 acres.

I just recall when we took out an old, unused section of fence a few yrs ago that had been overgrown with vines - had a nest of Bald Faced hornets that I found the hard way. I think I got hit 5-6 times, including two in the face, one close to an eye. The initial sting was bad enough, but over the next few hours I thought I was gonna croak. I never saw the nest. An older gent who doesn't quite see things like he used to....dealing with the super-aggressive types just seems like a perfect storm.

I'll be on it!

woodsrunner

Guinea Wasps......I think you are correct! Heck, I should have known that! I've got a Ph.D in stinging insects with post graduate work in "Yellowjackets"! See what happens to you when you get old and spend too much time in front of a dang computer? :tooth:

snake284-1

Those in the picture are Yellow Jackets, which are a type of wasp and can be viscious little critters. They get everywhere around here. One time they built a nest under the dash of my old fiber glass boat. They didn't come out until the boat was in the water and I was behind the wheel cruising up the river. I think I almost jumped overboard.

Edited: Guinee wasp" Never hear of em. Then what's a yellow jacket? Also what's the difference? They all hurt like hell.

Also, I just looked at the pic again. It's labeled yellow jaclets.

woodsrunner

snake, yellowjackets have a more rounded somewhat shorter wing, and are not as proficient in flight as a guinea wasp.....rather clumsy, F-A-S-T! They can hover like a hummingbird whereas wasps don't to any noticable degree. Y'jackets are the P-51 Mustang of the stinging insects, and wasps are more like a Fokker D-7, but even these you can't outrun....just ask Teach! Also, Y'jackets nest in the ground, and guinea wasps (and other varieties) make nests under the eves, in the mailbox, in your boat, anywhere they can construct a paper nest like the one pictured.

Fisheadgib

I'll vouch for the paper wasps not being too aggressive. Two weekends ago I was moving some stands around up at the hunting camp and when I was removing an 18' ladder stand, I heard a kinda loud buzzing and just ignored it. After all, I'm in the woods, it's summer, there's bugs, it happens. Then the buzzing got louder, and louder and I realized that while I was reaching around the tree to undo the strap that held the seat to it, I had my face a few inches from a large wasp nest that was built under the seat. I guess that as I was moving slowly (because I was almost two stories up) the wasps didn't get too freaked out. I had my head just inches from the nest and didn't get stung. In celebration and thanks of not being stung, I retrieved some wasp spray and took out the whole family.:tooth:

snake284-1

I've had red wasp do that. Not even killer bees will attack you without provocation. But when you piss em off, you better hope there's a body of water close by to jump into.

I've gotten too close to a yellow jacket nest and even if I don't provoke them there will be a few of em buzzing by my head until I vacate the premisses.

snake284-1

woodsrunner wrote: »

snake, yellowjackets have a more rounded somewhat shorter wing, and are not as proficient in flight as a guinea wasp.....rather clumsy, F-A-S-T! They can hover like a hummingbird whereas wasps don't to any noticable degree. Y'jackets are the P-51 Mustang of the stinging insects, and wasps are more like a Fokker D-7, but even these you can't outrun....just ask Teach! Also, Y'jackets nest in the ground, and guinea wasps (and other varieties) make nests under the eves, in the mailbox, in your boat, anywhere they can construct a paper nest like the one pictured.

Gotcha woodsrunner. Then what i've been dealing with all my life have been Guinea Wasp. But whatever you call em' they ain't nice!!!

Big Chief

Trident wrote: »

Trident Steels handles a wide variety of metals, such as stainless steels, wear-resistant steels & so on, to produce top-quality Stainless Steel Investment Castings in all common alloys.

To kill wasps with..............:tooth::spam::spam::spam::spam::spam::spam::spam:

HAWKEN

The quickest way I have found to dispatch them is by spraying them and their nests with carberator cleaner. They go into an immediate stupor and expire quickly. I have not found any insect that can survive this stuff......Robin

airhead

I'm a big fan of this stuff:

Reaches far enough to keep you out of the immedeate danger.
Kills wasps dead on contact.

Don't know what's in it.
Don't care.
It works.

MileHighShooter

Polistes dominula, specifically. They are an imported invasive species of wasp within the last 20-30 years and have completely dominated the USA. The European Paper Wasp, comes from milder climates then we are used to. The way nearly all Polistes and Vespula type species of wasps (paper wasps, yellow jackets, some hornets, etc) basically operate this way. The queens are one of the last batches of eggs to be laid at the end of the summer. They are fattened up by the workers, and once they are sexually mature a batch of drones (males) are hatched out. They all mate about...well, now-ish, August/September, and the males are driven off to die. And then the workers soon abandon the nests and will congregate someplace kind of warm to wait for death. That years queen, will also die. The new impregnated queens will find a place to harbor for the winter. Come spring time, they come out, and will start constructing a nest. Once they start hatching out the first batch of workers, she will relegate her duties to egg production while the workers keep multiplying, harvesting food (usually live protein sources, this is key) and expanding the nest so more workers can be hatched, so there is more food and more nest to build. Cycle starts all over again.

The Euro paper wasp is a hunter, they mostly prey on larvae of flying insects (caterpillars and grubs) and feed the young chewed up parts. Once adults, they basically feed on sugary liquids.

Since the EPW comes from colder climates, they are able to start their life cycle earlier in the year then our native paper wasps, bees and hornets. This has caused an extreme amount of competition to native species and we have seen a very large decline in their numbers everywhere the EPW has taken a foot hold (basically almost every where now). Since they are now the dominate stinging pest and are so effective at what they do, they have also cause a sharp decline in numbers of moths, butterflies and various other flying insects that have large larval stage juveniles. EPW are also less aggressive towards each other then native species, especially when it comes to territory, they'll build nests just inches from each other and not think a thing about it. Most other stinging pests are somewhat territorial and will defend their "zone" fiercely. On the other hand, they're rather placid in regards to humans as far as wasps go. I've gotten right up to their nests without one even bothering to give me a look over. Not the same with native wasps, hornets or yellow jackets. Heck get within 10-15 yards of the entrance to an underground yellow jacket nest and the guards WILL get your attention.

One of the big issues with the EPW is the fact that they are nearly identical to the nastiest of the nasty, Vespula pensylvanica - the Western Yellow Jacket (yes I know Penn is nowhere near the west lol I didn't pick the names). We could honestly do without that species being on our planet, they are extremely aggressive, are scavengers of proteins and sugary liquids (like...your picnic sammich and sodas, or the contents of nearly any trash can) and really don't do anything for the environment. That is the opinion of one of the most respected bug doctors in the world, who runs the entemology department here at CSU. So you have 2 bugs that look almost identical, but have totally different habits, habitats, and levels aggression.


Best way to deal with em, besides just leaving them alone, is to try and hit the nest with a long spraying contact spray (best products have allethrin as the active ingredient) made for wasps in the very last hours of sunset OR AT NIGHT. Wasps are not nocturnal, the closer to dark (or in the dark) the better, as you'll have a better chance of nailing the biggest chunk of the colony. Even with the queen and most of the workers gone, if you remove a nest in the daytime, the returning workers will start building a new nest all over again even though the population won't grow. The more you kill now the better, as right now the future queens are likely to be still on the nest, possibly the drones as well.

jbp-ohio

This is a Bee........



This is a Wasp.......




This is a hornet.....

orchidman

jbp-ohio wrote: »

This is a Bee........



This is a Wasp.......




This is a hornet.....

You forgot the .219 Donaldson 'Wasp'....................... http://www.reloadbench.com/popup/cart/011.html

jbp-ohio

orchidman wrote: »

You forgot the .219 Donaldson 'Wasp'....................... http://www.reloadbench.com/popup/cart/011.html

It's in there. It's the middle one. It's just labeled different.

Tugar

I swear by this product. The attractant isn't cheap, but wow it works wonder. I haven't used it in a season or two. Notice a few buzzing around. So much so that one stung one of the Dachshunds. So I did the deed. Put the attractant on a cotton ball and added a small piece of honey ham. Within in two days I had about 40 in the trap. it was so active I had to wait until a choice moment when they weren't going after it.

Reloaded the thing with another piece of ham and there are at least another 40-60 in the trap right now. the attractant lasts for about a week. No poisons or flames needed.



http://www.rescue.com/product/reusable-yellowjacket-trap