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Wasps

YELLOW JACKETS

Yellow Jackets are perhaps the wasp most people are familiar with. Yellow Jackets are yellow and black in color with yellow and black lines on their abdomen. Unlike bees, these wasps only live one season. A fertilized queen is the only wasp that will overwinter and start a new colony in the spring. The rest of the wasps die off during the winter months. Yellow jackets usually build their nests in the ground or in the wall of a home. Nests can grow to 25,000 wasps in one summer. Adult yellow jackets forage for meat to feed the larva. Adults are attracted to sweet liquids for their own food (they do not eat meat). This is why they are such a problem at outdoor events with food and drink.

MUD DAUBER

Mud Daubers are solitary wasps. They do not colonize like Yellow Jackets and Umbrella Wasp. The female Mud Dauber builds a small mud nest (chamber) on a building, tree, fence or some other suitable place. The female will sting and paralyze an insect or spider (the prey). The prey is then carried back to the mud nest and placed inside. The Mud Dauber then lays and egg in the chamber and seals it off. The mud nest is them permanently abandoned. Inside the chamber the egg will hatch. In the larva stage of development the spider or insect will be consumed. This is about a two week process, after which the adult wasp will emerge and the entire process will be repeated several times throughout the season. Mud Daubers are non-aggressive and pose very little threat to humans. Their nest, however, can lead to a carpet beetle infestation. This is due to the larval skins, pupal case and the remains of the spider or insect that is left behind when the adult emerges.

UMBRELLA WASP

The Umbrella Wasp is another very common wasp. These are the wasps that usually build their nests on the eves of a house or on the fence. Umbrella Wasp nests resemble an umbrella, thus their name. Umbrella Wasps are identified by their abdomen being pinched at the waist and at the end. Umbrella Wasps, like all wasps, can sting repeatedly. Not like bees that lose their stinger after one sting. These wasps only live one season. The fertilized queen is the only one that over winters to start a new nest in the spring.