Wasps

A back of the envelope calculation finds over twelve thousand types of wasps in the United States, normally grouped into larger super families and families. The Cuckoo wasp, a common garden species, is one of them.

Fortunately only a small percentage of wasps, primarily the Yellowjackets and Paper Wasps pose any concern to humans because of their habit of building nests in residential areas and their tendency to sting (multiple times) as a defensive mechanism, when their nests are threatened.

Paper Wasps

Removing the nest while it is being built, rather than waiting for nest to be completed and filled with wasps removes most of the threat to family members. Looking under the porch awnings and removing the nests with a broom during the spring should be enough to discourage the queen and drones from rebuilding.

Either way, it is necessary to remove the nest in order to remove the wasps.

The European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) , the most wide ranging of all the types of paper wasps in the United States, was introduced by colonialists, and it has spread across the continent.

Northern Paper Wasp

Polistes comanchus

Polistes flavus

Golden paper wasp

Polistes exclamans

Polistes dorsalis

Polistes annularis

Bellicousus

Red Wasp

Polistes metricus

Polistes major

Yellowjackets

Three types or genera of yellowjackets inhabit all parts of the United States.

• Aerial Nesters: genus Dolichovespula
• Ground Nesters: genus Vespula
• Hornets: genus Vespa

The dichotomy between aerial and ground nesting yellowjackets is not perfect. Sometimes the aerial nesters do build ground nests. Sometimes the ground nesters build aerial nests. With a few exceptions, the aerial nesters tend to be northern species. Perhaps it is because northern grounds are too cold most of the year to support the nesting process.

Regardless of their nest building habits, all yellowjackets cause concern because as social insects, they live in large groups and when the nest needs defending they can sting multiple times without losing their stinger. In most instances the stings are painful and, they could be life threatening to some people.

Bald-faced Hornet

Sandhills hornet

Northern Aerial Yellowjacket

Vespa crabro are the only true hornets with any range in the United States. First introduced in the 19th century, its range has spread to most states east of the Mississippi river.
They also build aerial nests.

Blackjacket

Eastern Yellowjacket

Western Yellowjacket

Southern Yellowjacket.

Downy Yellowjacket

German Yellowjackets

Sometimes it’s called the Alaska yellowjacket. However, Vespula alascensis is fairly widespread in the northern half of the United States.

Thread-waisted Wasts

The family Sphecidae, thread-waisted wasps technically belongs to a larger grouping call apoid wasps, the progenitors of the bee family. North America hosts about 125 species divided into 11 genera. The thin body piece that connects the thorax and the abdomen explains the common name.

About one-half of the species belong to the Ammophila genus characterized by long, thin bodies often with a mixture of black and red bodies and legs. The picture shows ammophila alberti

What follows is a brief and tentative run down for some basic identification clues to help differentiate a few different species. All things being equal, it’s more than adequate to identify them at the genus level.

Ammophila wrighti a very distinct species more brown than red in color.

Ammophila nigricans, for example has very dark wings and no markings on the thorax.

Ammophila pictpennis, another Eastern Species. can be identifies by the orange wings and absence of silver marks on the thorax.

Finally, the presence of silver marks on thorax is used as the basic field identification clue for Ammophila procera.

Only one species in the Eremnophila genus and it’s fairly easy to identify. Abundant east of the Rocky Mountains. Look for it in the summer months. In the warmer climates it may hang around a bit longer.

Cutworm Wasp

Yellow-legged Mud Dauber

The Blue Mud wasp (Chalybion californicum) gets credit for using Black Widow spiders as the larval food. They are fairly common across the United States.

Great Black Digger wasp

Great Golden Digger

Seven thread-waisted wasps in the genus Prionyx can be found from coast to coast.

Six different grass carrying wasps – Mexican Grass Carrying Wasp or I. apicalis

Brown-legged Grass Carrying Wasp

Potter and Mason Wasps

Potter and Mason Wasps (Eumeninae), the most diverse of the five vespid subfamilies, receive their name based on their pot shaped mud nests.

Ancistrocerus genera

Catskill Potter Wasp

One-banded Mason Wasp

Six bands and a spot on the abdomen suggests the possibility of a species in the stenodynerus genus.

A final note on using abdominal bands for potter wasp identification. Sometimes, not always two yellow bands on the abdomen identify species in the genus Parancistrocerus.

Euodynerus genera

The Fraternal potter wasp

Cross Potter wasp

Four-toothed Mason Wasp

Pseudodynerus quadrisectus looks very similar to the Four-toothed Mason Wasp. However, the two bands on the abdomen help differentiate it.

Eudynerus megaera

Euodynerus is a large genus of mason wasps. Here’s another species with a black body and yellow markings. It’s perhaps in the foraminatus group.

Sand Wasps

Sand wasps is the common name given to the species of wasps in the Crabronidae family. They go by common names such as sand wasps, weevil wasps, square-headed wasps and more.

With over twelve hundred species documented in the United States, there’s always a handful in and around the home and garden. Large and small, colorful eyes are often a good first ID tip for identifying them.

The top picture shows the Eastern Cicada Killer, an easily identified large species.

Like the Eastern Cicada killer, the Eastern stizus has brown eyes, brown legs and a pattern of spots and/or bands on the abdomen.

Stizoides renicinctus

American Sand Wasp

Bicyrtes

Bicyrtes capnopterus. Note the brown legs and the two-toned antennae.

Sure does look like a Nysson.

Bembecinus.

Steniolia scolopacea

Steniolia tibialis

Beewolves and Weevil Wasps, small and often yellow and black bodies species, hang around flower gardens waiting to snatch a honeybee or sweat bee from the flowers to serve as its larval host. About 30 species.

Beewolf

Beewolf

Weevil Wasp (Cerceris nigrescens)

Weevil Wasp (Cerceris nigrescens – male)

Weevil Wasp (Cerceris sextoides)

Gorytes

Square-headed wasp with common name Large ectemnius.

Unknown smiley faced square-headed wasp

There’s always an exception to the colorful rule. This astata species has a solid black color.

Tachysphex

Probably Glenostictia pictifrons

Spider Wasps

Spider wasps, a diverse family (about 300 species) belong to a larger superfamily (Pompiloidea) that includes four families.
Spider wasp identification can be difficult or easy, depending on the identification purpose. The large number of species means that entomologists often need the use of microscopes to sort through multiple physical traits in order to determine identification at the species level. Fortunately some species exhibit specific large scale body patterns that make field identification or identification by pictures useful.

Tarantula hawks

The red body and other visible physical characteristics such as the dark wings of the next wasp suggest it belongs to the Genus Ageniella.

Eastern Tawny Horned spider wasp

Priocnemis oregona

Poecilopompilus algidus

Velvet Ants

Velvet ants get their common name based on the wingless females and their body resemblance to ants. Furry bodies, however, do not translate them into warm and fuzzy wasps.

Females lack wings and are known to have a powerful sting and go by the nickname cow killers. Males do not sting.

Timmula genus

Here’s an unidentified female velvet any.

Here’s a similar looking female velvet ant seen nearby the male. They might be a variation of the Pacific Velvet Ant.

Exact counts of wasp species remain a bit soft because entomologists expect many remain undescribed. Regardless, most of the species belong to the Parasitic wasps category, a catch all term that applies to the fact that they skip nest building and deposit their eggs directly or in immediate vicinity of their prey.

With over ten thousand parasitic wasps already identified in the United States, they rank as the largest group of wasps, accounting for roughly seventy-five percent of all wasp species.

Pelecinid wasp

Chalcidoid Wasps -Lleucospis affinisin

Gall wasps in the larger Cynipoidea superfamily, are the third largest group of parasitic wasps. Most are also very small.

Carrot Wasps

With close to seven thousand documented species members of the Superfamily Ichneumonoidea rank as the largest group of parasitic wasps.

Together with the Chalcidoid and Cynipoidea wasps, they represent around ninety percent of all known, native parasitic wasps.

The picture shows a species with no common name, Opheltes glaucopterus.

The black and red body on the wasp in the next picture, along with the white stripes on the antennae suggests a Braconid wasp.

Male ichneumon wasps, like the one pictured lack an ovipositor which can also cause identification confusion. In these cases, the long antennae serves as the best clue for situating the wasp in the picture with the Ichneumon.

This male has a thinner waist, and again the long antennae serves as a clue for placing it in the Ichneumon group.

Therion genus

Arotes amoenus

Baryceros texanus

Pimpla pedalis

Exetastes suaveolens

Another family of flower wasps, Tiphiid Wasps, can be identified by thin, long bodies and a hooked appendage at the end of the abdomen.

The question, ‘why are they called sawflies if they are in the wasp category’ sounds reasonable. Consider the sawfly ovipositor. Many of the parasitic wasps have ovipositors, and therefore it’s reasonable to assume that a close inspection of the shape and size of the ovipositor might help with initial identification. A close up view of a Sawfly ovipositor shows a saw like appendage.

Caterpillars and adults come in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes. Cimbicid sawflies grow large.