Wasps are cousins of bees and ants, and many are important helpers in gardens. Social wasps like yellow jackets build paper nests by chewing wood into pulp, while solitary wasps hunt caterpillars and other insects to feed their young. Unlike honeybees, a wasp can sting more than once because its stinger is smooth rather than barbed.
Meet the red wasp and its paper nests, the large but rarely aggressive great black wasp, the famously painful executioner wasp and the familiar yellow jacket wasp, with tips on staying safe around each one.
Wasps first appear in the fossil records dating back to roughly 240 million years ago during the mid-Triassic period, and have evolved into over 30,000 species that still exist today. One of these species is nicknamed ‘The King of Sting’ due to its potent venom and incredibly painful sting, the executioner wasp, or scientifically known…
Wasps came into this world roughly 240 million years ago during the mid-Triassic period, and they’ve evolved into over 30,000 different species today. Roughly 4,000 species of which belong to the United States, including the red wasp, with thousands upon thousands still waiting to be discovered across the globe. Some of the smartest scientists in…
Wasps came into this world roughly 240 million years ago during the mid-Triassic period, and they’ve evolved into over 30,000 different species today. Roughly 4,000 species of which belong to the United States, including the black wasp, with thousands upon thousands still waiting to be discovered across the globe. Some of the smartest scientists in…
Not all black-and-yellow winged species you notice outside is a honeybees. The species you spotted could also be yellow jacket wasps. While yellow jacket wasps are dangerous to people and can even kill them, they are excellent to have around plants because they eat many garden parasites. These bees could end up a problem for people in…