Like most states, up to seventy five percent of the Oregon Wasp population consists of the parasitoid wasps, often known as Ichneumon wasps. Identifying them can be a challenge.
Most of the common residential area wasps can be easily identified, including the stinging wasps, yellowjackets and paper wasps. The first part covers Oregon wasps. Part two covers Oregon bees.
The Western Paper wasp, pictured, belongs to the world’s largest genus of social paper wasps, with around 250 species. They are primarily a subtropical species, with only three species documented in the United States.
Chances are that visitors to this page have seen the paper wasp in the picture. It’s a European paper wasp, a recent import that aggressively spread its range from the East Coast to the back yards of many Oregon homes. The two dots on the top of the thorax are good field identification clues.
Western Yellowjacket
Eumenes Potter Wasp
Potter Wasp face
Ancistrocerus Potter Wasp
More Oregon Wasps
Carrot Wasp
Ammophila wasp
Cutworm wasp
Prionychini 17 spp. in 2 genera Prionyx
Prionyx are smaller thhttps://the digger wasps and mud-daubers, and they often show up in gardens during the summer months.
Black and Yellow Mud Dauber
Blue Mud Dauber
American Sand Wasp
Comparing Beewolves, Square-headed Wasps and Weevil Wasps begins by noting many tend to have black bodies with yellow patterns. The rough looking body with small pits on it are good initial field identification clues for Beewolves.
Square-headed wasp
Male Velvet Ant
Male California Velvet Ant
Gall Wasp Gall
Giant Birch Saw Fly
Giant Birch Saw Fly
Saw Fly
Saw Fly
Saw Fly side
Tenthredo side
Tenthredo Top
The name Ichneumon Wasps is used informally here. The following set all belong to a larger family with potentially five thousand species in the United States. The first picture provides an example of a small wasp in the Anomalon genus.
A first look at the wasp on the flower might show a one-half inch piece of thread. The picture is magnified.
The next three pictures show very similar looking wasps with slight changes in the abdominal colors and patterns. Theses are the larger and more colorful species easy to see on flowers.
Ichneumon Wasp
Ichneumon Wasp
The next two pictures show similar looking wasps, one with white bands on the antennae.
Ichneumon Wasp
Final three pictures show distinctly different wasps.
Unknown
Unknown
Bees
North America hosts approximately one thousand different species, including its most familiar members, honey bees and bumble bees, along with less familiar names such as Cuckoo Bees, Carpenter Bees and Digger Bees.
Oregon hosts a wide variety of bees, some common across the Mountain West, some with a more limited range.
Brown-belted Bumblebee (side)
Brown-belted Bumblebee (top)
Yellow-faced Bumble Bee (face)
Yellow-faced Bumble Bee (side)
Yellow-fronted Bumblebee (face)
Yellow-fronted Bumble Bee (side)
Yellow-fronted Bumble Bee (top)
California Bumblebee
California Bumble Bee (face)
Western Bumble Bee
Least Cellophane Cuckoo Bee
Red-footed Sharp-tailed Bee
Western Leafcutter Bee
Furrow Bee
Wide-striped Sweat Bee
Fine Lined Sweat Bee (female)
Fine Lined Sweat Bee (male)
Hairless and small in size, Cuckoo Bees family resemble wasps more than they resemble bees, making them among the least known of the family.
The common name cuckoo refers to the bee’s practice of brood parasitism, like it’s namesake in the bird world, the Cuckoo bird. Adults lay their eggs in ground nests of other bee species, and then let the young fend for themselves.
Digger Bee
Blue Orchard Bee
Leaf-cutter Bees (Megachile)
Western Longhorned Bee (face)
Western Longhorned Bee
Longhorned Bee
Oblong Woolcarder Bee
Female European Woolcarder Bee
Male European Woolcarder Bee
Stelis
Northern Rotund Resin Bee
California Digger-cuckoo Bee