Stinging Insects

Yellow jackets are an aggressive species of stinging insect, that despite their dangers, are considered to be a beneficial species because they are responsible for pollination and help to keep nuisance insect populations down. Adult workers grow to be between 3/8th and 5/8th of an inch in length. They have a hairless body that has a yellow and black banded pattern on it; their face and head is usually black or yellow in color. Their waist is extremely thin and defined; their wings are elongated and fold laterally on their body when at rest.

Mud daubers are a flying, stinging insect who create nests out of mud and other natural materials. They grow to a large size between 1 1/2” to 2” long with a narrow waist, a thread-like segment between their thorax and abdomen causing a stretched look. Colors range from yellow and green marketing to metallic blue markings.

Carpenter bees are a large solitary species of bee. Which means they won’t found in large swarms bees buzzing around your property. They are often mistaken for bumble bees but instead of being “fuzzy” all over they have abdomens that are black and shiny. They are yellow and black in color and often lack stripes. Adults range in size from ¼ to 1 inch in length.

Bald-face hornets are black, except for an off-white color pattern found on the face, at the end of the abdomen and the thorax. They have a thin, long wasp-like body, and the worker hornets grow between 1/2” to 5/8” long. The Queens are much larger and grow to be about 3/4” long. These stinging insects create paper-like nests, normally found 3’ or higher up off of the ground.