While easily confusable at a distance or without close observation, there are many different characteristics of bees and wasps which can be used to identify them. Families Andrenidae Apidae Colletidae Halictidae Heterogynaidae Megachilidae Melittidae Oxaeidae Sphecidae Stenotritidae Bees (Apoidea superfamily) are flying insects, closely related to wasps and ants. ... WASP (an acronym for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) is a term that denotes the culture, customs, and heritage of the American élite Establishment. ...

	Bees		Wasps
	Honeybee	Bumblebee	Yellowjacket	Paper wasp (Polistes)	Bald-faced hornet
Colors	varies but generally amber to brown translucent alternating with black stripes, some are mostly black	yellow with black stripes, sometimes with red tail, to dark	black and opaque bright yellow stripes	dusty yellow to dark brown or black	black and ivory white markings
Coat	furry (short hair)	furry (long hair)	little or no hair
Size	1.3 cm (½ inch)	2.5 cm (1 inch) or more	1.3 cm (½ inch)	1.9–2.5 cm (¾ to 1 inch)	up to 1.9 cm (¾ inch)
Legs	not generally visible while flying†		two long legs are visible hanging down during flight. no pollen baskets	long. no pollen baskets
Behavior to humans and animals	gentle, unless hive or queen is threatened ‡ Domesticated bees have been selected over time for gentleness.	gentle	aggressive	gentle	aggressive
Preferred food	nectar from flowers		other insects, overripe fruit, sugary drinks, human food and food waste, particularly meat*	other insects
Stinger character	barbed, is pulled out of the bee when it flies away, will lead to the death of the bee if used on a mammal	smooth, rectracts, can be used indefinitely
Lives in	large colonies of flat wax-based honeycomb hanging vertically	small cavities in the soil	small umbrella-shaped papery combs hanging horizontally in protected spaces such as attics, eaves or soil cavities		large paper nest shaped like an upside-down pear usually hanging from branches or eaves

^† When walking, you can often see light-colored pollen on the pollen baskets on a honeybee's rear legs. Species A. mellifera — western honeybee A. cerana — eastern honeybee The honeybee is a colonial insect that is often maintained, fed, and transported by farmers. ... Species see text A bumblebee in flight The bumblebee is a flying insect of the genus Bombus in the family Apidae. ... Wasp eating an apple Yellowjackets are black-and-yellow wasps of the genus Vespula or Dolichovespula (though some can be black-and-white, the most notable of these being the bald-faced hornet, Dolichovespula maculata). ... Paper wasps Categories: Animal stubs | Vespoidea ... Binomial name Vespula maculata first described by Linnaeus The Bald-Faced Hornet or White-Faced Hornet is not a true hornet at all. ... Image File history File links Small version of Image:Honigbiene. ... Bombus fraternus - bumblebee Image taken by me, released under GFDL Pollinator 14:23, 17 Feb 2004 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... European Wasp 180x120 my own picture File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... cropped polistes wasp image Image taken by me, released under GFDL Pollinator 14:23, 17 Feb 2004 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Baldfaced Hornets attracted to the rotten apples fallen from the trees in my yard File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

^‡ There are several races of domesticated honeybees with varying characteristics of honey production, disease resistance and gentleness. Since the barbed stinger evolved for combat with other bees, the invariable outcome of stinging a mammal or bird is that the stinger becomes lodged in the victim's skin and tears free from the honeybee's body, leading to her death within minutes. As such, there is rarely any evolutionary advantage for a bee to sting a mammal to defend itself; honeybees will generally only sting when the hive is directly threatened, whereas honeybees found in the field or on a flower will rarely sting.
Note: Africanized honeybees can be more aggressive than the more common European honeybees, but still only defend the hive. Races of honeybees Some biologists use race synonymously with subspecies or, in botany, variety, to refer to divisions within a species. ... Orders Subclass Multituberculata (extinct) Plagiaulacida Cimolodonta Subclass Palaeoryctoides (extinct) Subclass Triconodonta (extinct) Subclass Placentalia Afrosoricida Artiodactyla Carnivora Cetacea Chiroptera Cimolesta (extinct) Creodonta (extinct) Condylarthra (extinct) Dermoptera Desmostylia (extinct) Embrithopoda (extinct) Hyracoidea Insectivora Lagomorpha Litopterna (extinct) Macroscelidea Mesonychia (extinct) Notoungulata (extinct) Perissodactyla Pholidota Plesiadapiformes (extinct) Primates Proboscidea Rodentia Scandentia Sirenia Taeniodonta... Orders Many - see section below. ... Model of the layers of human skin In zootomy and dermatology, skin is an organ of the integumentary system; which is composed of a layer of tissues that protect underlying muscles and organs. ... Africanized bees are hybrids of the African honeybee, Apis mellifera scutellata (or possibly ), with various European honeybees such as the Italian bee A. m. ...

* Yellowjackets are carnivorous during the brood rearing part of the season. They feed insects to their brood, and obtain the sugar for their flight-muscle energy mostly from secretions of the brood. During this time they can be attracted to traps baited with meat or fish. Near the end of summer, when brood rearing ceases and this sugar source is no longer available, yellowjackets become frantic for sugar, and can be baited with sugar-based baits. They are also much more likely to visit fall flowers for nectar, than they are earlier in the season.

External links

• Ohio State University Yellowjacket factsheet
• Ohio State University Hornet factsheet
• What's Buzzin' in My Garden?