Everything You Need To Know About Bees/Wasps/Hornets in NJ

Color: Black with yellow stripes.

Size: 1 inch

Habits: Visit flowers to collect pollen and nectar. Buzz loudly when disturbed.

Habitat: Normally nests in the ground but sometimes invades buildings and nests in attics or soffits.

Threat: Can sting but normally won’t unless the nest is disturbed.

Prevention: Stay away from flowers when bees are active.

Color: Yellow and black.

Size: 1 inch

Habits: Visit flowers to collect pollen in the spring. Bore into the wood to create nests. Lay eggs in nests and provision them with pollen balls. Active mainly in May and June. Over winter in the nest. A male and female work as a couple to create and provision a nest.

Habitat: Bore into the undersides of softwoods. Fascia boards and decking can be attacked. The holes are approximately 3/8 inch in diameter. Tend to ignore painted and stained wood.

Threat: Not a public health threat. Will sting but only if provoked. Can damage wood if reinfestation occurs year after year.

Prevention: Contact a New Jersey Pest Professional if you feel there is a re-infestation.

Color: Golden-yellow with brown bands.

Size: ½ inch

Habits: Collect nectar and pollen from flowering plants and bring it to the colony. Honey is produced to feed the larvae. Colonies may contain upwards of 100,000 workers. Bees are necessary for the pollination of many crops.

Habitat: Found in open areas visiting flowering plants. Colonies live in man-made hives or hollow trees or in voids of buildings.

Threat: Honey bees sting but only sting once. Some people are highly allergic to bee stings.

Prevention: Do not bother bees. Stay away from flowers when bees are visiting them. If the bees are nesting in a building, the honey should also be removed or other scavenger insects will find it and infest it.

Color: Brown with orange stripes.

Size: 1-1/4 inches

Habits: Collect other insects to feed to larvae. Make large paper nests. Only new queens over winter. Very aggressive.

Habitat: Nests in hollow trees, wall voids, and attics.

Threat: Sting is very painful

Prevention: No practical methods of preventing nest building.

Color: Varies.

Size: Varies.

Habits: This group is diverse but has in common there is no social structure.

Habitat: The group includes: * Paper wasps (they build the upside umbrellas under eaves) * Mining bees (they bore into fences or bare ground and provision each hole with an egg and food for the larva) * Cicada killers (They are the really big wasps making holes in the ground) * Siricids (The bore into freshly cut wood and may emerge in new buildings but they don’t reinfest).

Threat: The paper wasps sting readily. Mining bees and Cicada killers can sting but won’t unless grabbed. Siricids can’t sting.

Prevention: There are really no preventative measures available for any of these solitary wasps. Sometimes pesticides are applied to surfaces that historically have been attacked to prevent new infestations.

Color: Black and yellow.

Size: 1/2 inch.

Habits: Social insects which live in colonies numbering in the thousands. Very aggressive and sting repeatedly. Collect insects during the summer to feed larvae in the nest. In late summer and early fall, the adults seek out sugars which is why they arrive at picnics.

Habitat: Most live in the ground but some may nest in wall voids and attics. Occasionally aerial nests which look like gray, paper foot balls in trees, are built.

Threat: All species sting repeatedly and are aggressive.

Prevention: There are no practical measures to prevent nest building.

What Is the Difference Between a Wasp and a Hornet Nest?

Hornets tend to surround their nests with a paper shell while wasps tend to leave it open.

Which Is Worse, a Hornet or a Wasp Sting?

Hornets sting in general are more painful to humans than other wasp species, because of a large amount of acetylcholine. Swarms of hundred of hornets can be deadly but in general, one or two stings from hornets or wasps are associated with allergic reactions.