Video: Types of Bees and Wasps: How to Tell the Difference?

Hi! I’m Mike Ryan here in the bee cabin. Today, the star of the show is the carpenter bee.

I’m here today to show you different types of bees and wasps.

Let’s start with the honey bee drone.

They do not have stingers and their primary role is mating.

Here is a honey bee worker. These are what we like in our gardens. They gather nectar and pollinate.

This is a paper wasp. They make the paper nests with the open combs inside.

This is a yellow jacket. Sometimes called a bee, but they are technically a wasp and have lance like stingers that can sting repeatedly. Ouch!

Over here is a bumble bee.

This, next to it, is our carpenter bee. Or, also referred to as a wood boring bee. The carpenter bee is not as soft and fuzzy as the bumble bee. We can see that clearly here. It only has a small portion of hair on it’s middle abdomen. As for color, some carpenter bee species are all black, while some have similar yellow markings to the bumble bee, but only on their head. The lower abdomen has little to no hair and appears black and shiny. This is why they are occasionally referred to as black bees.

Let me see if I can flip it over here for you.

A female carpenter bee has mandibles in the front of their head for the purpose of drilling holes into the wood. Take a close look. This is the enemy of the wood around your house.

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Here is a whole jar full!