E-44
DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY

household & public health insects
Bees, wasps. Hornets and Yellowjackets
John F. MacDonald and Ralph E. Williams

Controlling bees and wasps in and around buildings, parks and campgrounds may be difficult and possibly hazardous. Some people are hypersensitive to bee and wasp venom, and many others are greatly afraid of these common insects. Most commercial pest control operators are equipped to deal with bees and wasps and can provide service when control is warranted.

Although all female bees and wasps are capable of stinging (males are harmless), only the social species aggressively do so in defense of their colonies. Solitary species rarely sting; typically, only if mishandled. Accordingly, it is important to be able to distinguish social bees (the honey bee, bumble bees) and social wasps (paper wasps, hornets, yellow jackets) from their solitary relatives (carpenter bees, cicada killer, mud daubers, etc.).

Truly social bees and wasps will exist in a populous colony associated with some type of elaborate nest; colonies are easily recognized by the great amount of activity in and out of the single nest site. Solitary bees and wasps, although sometimes existing in aggregations, build a small burrow in which a female raises a few young by herself; such females do not defend their solitary nest.

All bees and wasps are beneficial and should be conserved unless they cause direct damage by their nesting activity or confute a stinging threat when a colony exists
in or around structures and areas of human activity. Colonies situated high in trees should be left alone since they are no threat.

Bees and wasps can be distinguished both by their appearance and the type of nest they build. Nearly all bees gather pollen to feed their young, and possess rather hairy bodies with flattened, hairy hind legs to assist in pollen transport. In contrast, wasps capture insects to feed their young, and are much less hairy and lack the flattened, hairy hind leg pollen basket.

HONEY BEES IN BUILDINGS
Honey bees may build colonies in hollow walls, chimneys and attics of buildings.
Here, they may annoy or at times sting the residents, and honey bee colonies (unlike other social bee and wasp colonies) may be a perennial problem. In addition, the wax combs of the nest may melt and allow honey to seep through walls and ruin interior finishes. Abandoned honey combs can become infested with scavenger insects which may enter the home and cause additional annoyance. Accordingly, removal and/or destruction of honey bee colonies in structures is advised, but with special care.

Honey bee colonies in structures can be destroyed by injecting 5% carbaryl (Sevin) dust (Apicide®) into the entrance hole or a hole drilled through the wall into the nest itself. Dusts are most easily applied with a

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