Springtime's got us buzzin'. I'm Mimi Fotz, and this is Hello from the Van. A bee or a wasp? A hornet or a yellow jacket? Wait, is that a bumblebee or a honeybee? How do you know which is which? And which ones are most likely to bite or sting you? Those are the questions we are going to answer today on Hello from the Van. First things first, we need to talk about classifications. Bees are one classification and wasps are another. But did you know that they're all under a big, huge classification of wasps? Yes, bees, honeybees, bumblebees, carpenter bees are all technically under the wasp classification. They're in the same group as hornets, yellow jackets, paper wasps, and more. Basically, you have a very large umbrella of wasps. Bees and wasps are members of the order Hymenoptera, and as such, share many characteristics and features. Basically, they are sister groups of the same family of wasp. Could you imagine if you and your sibling grew up in the same house, but everyone loved your sibling and hated you, even though you both grew up to do the exact same job? That's what happened to bees and wasps. Same household, very different outcomes. Visually, they even look similar and are easy to get confused. Wasps can look like bees and bees can look like wasps. It's all just a big insect family. And in that insect family, there's definitely some family politics. Let's talk about that. When we generally think of native pollinators or beneficial insects, most people's minds naturally go to the lovely honeybee. Would you be shocked to learn that honeybees are not native to the United States? They were brought over by pilgrims, the same folks that brought us dandelions. They were imported. Both bees and wasps are pollinators. But how many times have we heard save the bees? It's never save the wasp or save the hornet. Why is that? I have some theories. Now, this is based on my own experience, so take from that what you will. I will back it up with some data, but you draw your own conclusion. In my research, I learned that there is an order to the aggression of bees and wasps. The most aggressive is the yellow jacket. The yellow jacket will defend their nests and their airspace. They get more plentiful as the summer goes on. So by the time you hit the end of the summer, yellow jackets are everywhere and they're very aggressive. These are the bright yellow insects that seek out your soda can in the summer. In addition to their aggression, yellow jackets can sting multiple times without any harm to themselves. It makes sense that pest control companies make millions of dollars every year keeping yellow jackets at bay from homeowners. There's a tragic misconception about wasps due to the yellow jacket. The yellow jackets are clumped in with paper wasps and docile hornets. Humans see a yellow striped bug and we panic. The general population despises all wasps due to the yellow jacket. If we think about it like flavors of ice cream, it would be like saying, listen, I tried a super spicy pepper flavored ice cream one time, so I don't like any ice cream at all. The tragic part? Yellow jackets make up a tiny fraction of the wasps and native pollinators in this world. There are over 20,000 known species of bees. There are those cute little ones that you see running all around. You want to know what else is cute? The 100,000 different species of wasps. There are over five times more species of wasps than there are of bees. And that's just the ones that we know about. Wasps can also be adorable and beneficial. Did you know that if we took wasps out of our ecosystems, they would absolutely crumble. We cannot function and exist as a species, as humans, without the wasp. Hear at Hello from the Van. We will not abide the wasp hate. We love our native pollinators. And with that, let's have a pollinator party. It is time for Hymenoptera social breakdowns. There are two types of Hymenoptera, social and solitary. You know how some animals travel in packs, like wolves, and others prefer the independent lifestyle. Insects are a lot the same. Some insects love being a part of a bigger group. In this case, it's called a hive or a colony. And some insects prefer a solitary life. It's kind of like the difference between living in a big house with lots of rooms and family members and aunts and uncles and cousins, and you're all working and living together versus camping in the woods by yourself. Social, everyone all together, or solitary, you by yourself. Both bees and wasps can be social or solitary. The interesting part? All social colonies of bee and wasp last for only one year. Colonies and hives die off in the fall and winter. The remaining queens overwinter in the ground and start the process over again in the spring. This is, of course, all except for the honeybee. Of the hundreds of thousands of types of bees, wasps, and hornets, honeybees are the only type that we know of that keep their social structure through the winter and hibernate together. So not only are honey bees social, but they stay together in the winter. So now that we know about living conditions being social or being solitary, how else are bees and wasps the same? Both can be omnivores, meaning they eat both plants and meats. It's something they have in common with last week's chickens. Ironically, bees, yes, even the beloved honeybee, can be cannibalistic, meaning they eat their own kind to protect their hives. According to BBC Wildlife, cannibalism has been recorded in honeybees to protect the nest from threats, such as workers gone rogue and laying eggs, or during times of pollen shortage. Basically, if things get out of balance in the hive, they'll eat their own. Bumblebees have also been observed feeding on the carcasses of dead animals. In contrast, adult wasps, both social and solitary, only feed on sugars. These sugars can come from flower nectar, honeydew produced by aphids, or the wasp larva themselves. They don't eat the larva. The larva actually produces a sugary liquid that the adult wasps consume. Adult wasps don't actually eat the prey that they capture and kill, they feed it to their young. I had no idea. Shocker, of all shocker, adult wasps only eat nectar. There's been a couple times when I'm out having a picnic and I've had something like chicken, and I've noticed that wasps go to the chicken. I always thought they ate the chicken. Not true. They're taking off little bits to take back to their babies. Another incredible and awesome similarity between the bees and the wasps is that it is only the females of the species that do the work. And only the females of both species have stingers. If you've ever been stung by a bee or a wasp, it was a girl. Remember how we talked about yellow jackets and how they're the most aggressive branch of the wasp family? Well, it gets worse for them. According to the Utah State University Agriculture Science Department, 90%, yes, 90% of all stings from wasps come from yellow jackets. So that whole hymenoptera umbrella that we talked about earlier, hundreds of thousands of species, yeah, 90% of all of their stings come from the yellow jackets. One insect is responsible for 90% of stings. That's huge. Yes, hornets and bees can sting you, but they don't want to. They simply want to be left alone. Yellow jackets, however, will seek out anything they even slightly perceive as a threat, and then they will sting away. The singular yellow jacket, they're giving everybody else a bad rap. Let's not blame an entire order of insect for the stings of one species. So we've covered a little bit of how they're the same. Similar in shape, in size, in body angles. They have lovely wings, they're all pollinators. They also can all be social and solitary. But how are they different? Well, when it comes to their bodies, wasps tend to have a longer, thinner body with a narrow section called a petiole that separates their head and their abdomen. Bees' bodies are stalkier, they're a bit hardier, girthier, rounder than hornets or wasps. Basically, their bodies are different. One's rounder, one's thinner. Now let's talk about their legs. Because they're insects, all species of bees and wasps have six legs. Graham Hunt, a horticulturist at the National Aquarium, points out bees' legs are flat, while wasps' legs are round. Another difference, as bees evolved from hunters into pollen gatherers, some females developed pollen transport structures on their legs. Hornets don't have pollen baskets on their legs. It's strictly a bee characteristic. And now let's talk about stinger shape. As we talked about before, only the females have stingers. In wasps, the edges of these stingers are smooth. This is what allows them to sting over and over and over again. It's a clean cut in and out. Bees, however, have barbed stingers that remain embedded in the skin of the sting e. Basically, when they sting you, you will be able to see their stinger stuck in you. This is unique to the bee. Bees usually die after they lose their stinger because it takes a bit of them with it. They're less aggressive than wasps and they only sting to protect themselves because of this. And to round out today's episode, we are going to talk about some safety tips for wasps and bees, things that will keep you safe but also keep them safe. Remember, yellow jackets are the aggressors. They also grow more aggressive as their nests get larger. This is why you tend to have issues in late August as the summer days drag on. Their nests and territory is naturally expanding. So if you're going to spray for yellow jackets, do it early in the morning or late in the evening. Yellow jackets are most active and most aggressive during the day. The hotter the day, the more active they are. All yellow jackets, except the queens, die off in the fall and winter. This means in the springtime, this is critical queen capturing time. If you do not want yellow jacket nests in your yard at the end of summer, be proactive of the yellow jacket queens in the spring. Look for them and dispose of them properly. Where you see one, the rest will follow a few weeks later. So capture that one in early spring. When it comes to the rest of the hornet and wasp species, know that most of them are pretty docile. They want to be left alone. That's why we don't even notice the other 150,000 species. They're just doing their job pollinating and moving on with their short but incredible lives. How can you help the pollinators? According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there's a lot that you can do to be a good community member. Because like it or not, we're part of the pollinator community and they're part of ours. Plant a pollinator garden. It doesn't have to be big, it can be even as small as one plant in one flower pot. Nearly every patch of green space can help sustain pollinators with nectar. If you live in an apartment or somewhere that you don't have green space of your own, check with your local city government. There are a lot of programs available for kids and families to learn about and interact in pollinator-friendly environments. The next thing you can do, be on the lookout for pollinator nesting sites. Not just the yellow jackets, so you can avoid them, but everybody else. Also, know that many native bees are ground nesters. They need well-drained bare soil to create their homes in holes called burrows. You can help by leaving a small patch of well-drained bare ground at the edge of your lawn for ground nesting bees. Also, fun fact: bees love to face south so that they get the most sun possible during the day. So if you have the south side of your yard, make sure that there's a place for some bees to go. And finally, probably the most important step: avoid or limit your pesticide use. While pesticide is great for battling weeds and garden pests, try other actions first. A pesticide that is meant for one bug won't just stay with that bug. It has unintended consequences for the entire ecosystem. Do what you can before you reach for that pesticide. In short, let's do everything we can to be good neighbors. And with that, I'm Mimi Fotz. And this has been another episode of Hello from the Van.