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BEES, WASPS, AND STINGING/BITING INSECTS
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| YELLOW JACKET |
About ¾ to 1 inch in length |
| Generally small wasps with black and yellow stripes |
Yellow jackets are social insects that live in colonies
containing thousands of individuals
Colonies are usually started by a single queen in the early
spring, and are very small for the first couple of months.
By midsummer, a colony located on or near a house is usually
large enough to become a problem. These wasps will aggressively
attack when their nest is disturbed, and can inflict painful
stings. Unlike the honeybee, which stings only one time and
then dies, a single yellow jacket can sting many times. Yellow
jackets colonies located in or near a home can pose a threat
to the persons living in the house. When this situation is
discovered, the colony or colonies should be eliminated. Because
of the danger involved in treating these nests, only a professional. |
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| PAPER WASPS |
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| Most species are about 1 inch in length, but a few may be
as small as ½ inch or as large as 1½ inches. Many
are reddish-brown or dark red. Some species are more orange,
while others have varying bright stripes of red and yellow.
The key to identifying paper wasps is the shape of the nest
-- a round, upside-down paper comb that is attached by a single
stalk to a horizontal surface in a protected location. This
paper nest resembles an umbrella, The colony starts out each
spring as a single queen that has over wintered in a protected
site, such as beneath bark, within leaf litter or inside the
walls or attics of buildings. The queen finds a suitable nesting
site and constructs a small comb nest in which she raises her
first brood of larvae. Most paper wasp colonies number only
a few dozen workers, but under the right conditions, a colony
might produce more than 100 workers. In early fall, the colony
produces queens which fly out to find a site to over winter. |
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| BALD-FACED HORNET |
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| Bald-faced hornets are black and white yellow jackets, 5/8
to ¾ of an inch long. They build the typical gray, paper,
sphere-shaped. The nests may be built on shrubs at ground level
to over 60 feet or higher in trees. Nests may also be attached
to sheds, houses, or utility poles. If the nest is close to
a walkway, home, and children's play areas the hornets be a
problem. Hornets will aggressively attack and sting any intruder
threatening or disturbing the nest. Attacks usually do not occur
until colonies get larger The nests last one year. Each year
in the fall, a hornet nest produces numerous queens that fly
out to find a protected site to over winter. The following spring,
each queen finds a suitable site in a tree or shrub to begin
constructing her nest. She forms a small paper nest inside in
which she builds a paper "comb" and raises her first brood of
larvae. The workers that emerge from that brood begin foraging
for food, enlarging the nest, caring for the young and defending
the colony. |
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