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Yellowjacket
Wasp Names
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Different
names for these social insects
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Summary: In
the US the term yellowjacket refers
to a group of social wasps that
build large nests both above ground (aerial
nests) or below ground (ground
nests). Common names, in addition
to yellowjacket, include ground bees,
garbage bees, and hornets.
Jack
DeAngelis, PhD
OSU Ext.
Entomologist (ret.)
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Wasp is a general term for any
one of thousands of species of predatory and
parasitic Hymenoptera, which includes
wasps, ants, and bees. There are tiny parasitic
wasps no larger than a gnat, solitary
thread-waisted wasps [picture] and social wasps
with colonies that rival bee hives in
complexity. A yellowjacket is a
particular type of social wasp in one, or a few,
specific wasp genera such as the genus Vespula
(see Yellowjacket
Wasps).
Common names tend to vary somewhat by
region and can be very confusing. For example,
there is a wasp called the "baldfaced hornet" [picture]
that actually belongs to one of the genera that
in the US we call yellowjackets (Vespula
and Dolichovespula). We should probably
call this insect the "baldfaced yellowjacket".
True "hornets", on the other hand, are in the
genus Vespa. Confused? It actually gets
worse...!
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A typical yellowjacket,
or social wasp. Common
names include yellow jackets, bees,
hornets, ground hornets, and garbage
bees.
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In some countries the term yellowjacket is
not used at all and is mostly replaced by the phrase
"social vespids" or "social wasps" or
simply "wasps". The phrase, social wasps,
refers to all those wasps that build large, complex
colonies in which there is a queen, workers and a
division of labor.
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Problem yellowjackets
In the US, the term yellowjacket generally
refers to social wasps in the genera Vespula and
Dolichovespula. While most species of
yellowjackets go unnoticed, a few get our attention
because they are potentially dangerous pests.
Problems arise when the wasps seek to share our
picnic food or, more importantly, sting us when they
see us as a threat to the colony.
Two closely related species, Vespula
vulgaris (common yellowjacket) and
Vespula germanica (European or German
yellowjacket) [picture], are probably the
most frequently encountered "problem" yellowjackets
worldwide. Western North America has an additional
species, Vespula pensylvanica or the western
yellowjacket. All these species build mostly
underground nests and have adopted a scavenger
habit which brings them into conflict with
people (see Why
are Scavenger Yellowjackets More Dangerous?).
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Other common wasp names
There are other names used to describe what
the social wasps do such as "garbage bees"
and "ground bees". Yellowjacket wasps that
have adopted the scavenger habit often forage around
garbage cans looking for food, hence the name
"garbage bees". Likewise, many scavenger colonies
build their nests below ground, hence the name
"ground bees". The term hornet is often used
interchangeably with yellowjacket but experts
reserve the term for a few particular wasps, only
one of which occurs in the US. Finally, the term
"bee" should only be used for another group of
non-predatory, pollen-collecting Hymenoptera, the true
bees, such as honey bees, carpenter bees, and
bumble bees.
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