Wasp Pictures
| Wasps and Bees Bald-faced Hornet Black and Yellow Mud Dauber Bumblebees Honeybees Ichneumon Paper Wasps (Polistes) Tarantula Hawk Steel Blue Cricket Hunter Western Paper Wasp |
There are over one hundred thousand species in the order, making it second to beetles as the largest insect order.
The pinched waist characteristic of ants, bees and wasps puts them in their own suborder, Apocrita.
Many people have an interest in bee and wasp identification, if only to be able to identify those species building nests in and around their homes.
The links provides pictures and descriptions of a variety of species of bees, wasps and hornets that live in and around residential areas.
Five families in the Hymenoptera order are represented:
- Tarantula Hawk (Pepsis 15 species) Family Pompilidae
- Black and Yellow Mud Dauber (Sceliphron caementarium) Thread-waisted Wasp Family (Sphecidae)
- Steel-blue Cricket Hunter (Sphex pensylvanicus) Thread-waisted Wasp Family (Sphecidae)
- Bumblebees family Apidae
- Honeybees family Apidae
- Ichneumon family Ichneumonidae
- Bald-faced Hornet Family Vespidae
- Paper Wasps (Polistes genus) Family Vespidae
- Western Paper Wasp (Mischocyttarus genus) Family Vespidae
None of the listed species is considered particularly agressive toward humans, however caution is always important around stinging insects. The Tarantula Hawk, for example, is often regarded as the most painful stinging insect in the United States.