Wasp Species: Common North-American Wasps and Hornets
Summer and fall is wasp season in North America
. Wasps are workhorses of the food chain and do humans a great service by controlling insect populations that would otherwise decimate our crops. Of course, for most people, avoiding wasps and their stingers is a real concern.There's hardly a place on the planet that is wasp-free, and there are over 400 wasp species in North America alone. Here are some you might encounter this summer:
* Yellowjackets: Yellowjackets are one of the most common wasps on the continent. About the size of a honeybee, they are highly aggressive, can sting more than once, and can usually be identified by their distinctive bright yellow and black body striping. "Yellowjacket" is a common name, however; the bald-faced hornet and some other white and black wasps are also considered yellowjackets, and some red abdomens. When most people think of yellowjackets, they think of the small distinctively colored wasp with a severe sting.
Yellowjackets often live in the ground, but they may also build in cavities in rock or cement walls, or in hollows in trees and buildings. Yellowjacket hives are usually hidden, so it is the activity around an opening that will alert you to the presence of a hive. Hive populations in many yellowjacket species number between 1,000 and 3,000 adult wasps. The southern yellowjacket can develop colonies of up to 100,000.
* Paper wasps: There are 22 species of paper wasps in North America. They are also called umbrella wasps, both names coming from their papery, honeycomb-like nests, which the wasps construct from a mixture of plant and wood fiber and their saliva. Paper wasps are generally docile, but will attack if their nest is disturbed. They are around 2 centimeters long and have yellow markings on a black, brown, or reddish body. Paper wasps hang their nests in trees, shrubs, or the under the eaves near entrances of houses, barns, and other buildings.
* Bald-faced hornets: Bald-faced hornets live throughout North America, but are most common in the southeastern United States. They are black and white and noticeably larger than yellow jackets or paper wasps. Bald-faced hornets are not aggressive unless the nest is disturbed, but will sting repeatedly in that event. They build large, oval-shaped, papery nests, usually grayish in color, which hang from trees or buildings. The nests can grow to be up to three feet tall. Hornets are sensitive to vibration, so be cautious around the structure on which a hornet nest hangs.
* Mud Dauber Wasps: Mud daubers are solitary, docile wasps. They are long and slender, often with a needle-like waist, and may be black, black and yellow, or iridescent blue. Their tell-tale mud nests may look like a series or organ pipes or like a smooth lemon-sized mud lump. Mud daubers' nests can usually be found on ceilings and interior walls. They will not attack in defense of their nests and rarely sting humans unless they themselves are physically handled. They often feed on poisonous spiders.
Wasp Species: Common North-American Wasps and Hornets
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