Wasps. Most wasps are not hunting us down for prey or are overly aggressive. Wasps actually display a wide range of behaviors and social structures. Courting dances, determined builders, and skilled hunters all describe the wasp.

Let’s rethink our relationship with wasps. They play a valuable part in our ecosystems and like bees are beneficial pollinators.

Keep reading to learn more about wasps and some specific species you may find in Kentucky and surrounding states.

Are Wasps And Hornets The Same Insect?

Wasps belong to the insect order Hymenoptera which also includes ants and bees. This group is broken down into several subcategories to better group them.

Hornets are a type of wasp. There are no hornets native to the United States. Our main hornet, the European hornet, is an invasive species that was introduced in the 1840s.

The animal we refer to as the “bald-faced hornet” is actually in the paper wasp family and closely related to yellow jackets.

Wasps are also put in groups by what type of nest they build and their social order. Social nest builders are several generations living and working together to care for the offspring. Yellow jackets and paper wasps are good examples of these.

Solitary wasps are an individual female who builds their own nest and takes care of their children.

Wasps have actually been poorly studied and there is much still to learn about them. Helping to recognize wasps and report their locations to organizations such as iNaturalist is a big help to scientists.

Read our blog on BioBlitz: What is it? Why Do It? to learn more about how you can participate in citizen science.

Wasp Life Cycle

Wasps go through a metamorphosis just like butterflies and bees. They have four stages of development: egg, larvae, pupa, and adult.

Male and female wasps mate and the female stores the sperm in a spermatheca. Female wasps determine the sex of the offspring by giving or withholding sperm.

If she adds sperm to an egg it will develop into another female. This is called haplodiploidy.

Eggs hatch within a few days. The larvae look like grubs and lack eyes and antennae. Their focus is to eat. They are in the larvae stage for about two weeks.

They then make a cocoon. Some stay in the cocoon through the winter and others come out after reaching pupation, typically around two weeks.

When they emerge from the cocoon they often stay in the nest as their exoskeleton hardens.

Paper wasp life stages. Photo by Инженер Павел Серков.

Are All Wasps Aggressive?

You may have been stung by a wasp and that makes you think all wasps are aggressive. One category of wasps is called social wasps because they build nests and live in a colony much as bees do.

Social wasps have “nest guards” that protect the nest and the developing larvae (children) inside. They are just protecting their homes and family.

Some examples of social wasps are yellow jackets, black-faced hornets, and paper wasps.

Wasps and bees share many things in common. One big difference is that bees are vegetarians and feed on nectar, pollen, and fruit. Wasps are carnivores and feed on live prey.

Read our article on Raising Honeybees: Step by Step

There are species of wasps that are non-aggressive and go about their daily lives with little human interaction. These wasps are often solitary wasps where each female builds her own nest. A good example is the Smoky Winged Beetle Bandit Wasp.

Nesting Style

Nesting style says a lot about whether the wasp reacts aggressively. A social wasp lives cooperatively all together and feels the need to protect the community.

Solitary wasps are a single female that constructs an individual nest. She then places prey in each section of the nests where she lays an egg. Some solitary females stick around and feed the larvae and some do not.

What Do Wasps Eat?

Wasps eat a variety of insects and spiders. Different species of wasps eat different species of insects. So you may find several species of wasps in the same territory. Since they are not competing for food they are not aggressive towards each other.

For instance, the Eastern Cicada Killer wasp (below) not only eats just cicadas they eat a specific variety called the dog day cicada.

Is It Safe To Be Around Wasps And Hornets At Night?

Wasps are diurnal and mostly active during the day. At night they enter a state of torpor to rest. Females spend the night in the nest. Males are often relegated to finding a safe spot nearby.

Wasps can wake up if disturbed even during the dark of night. They will still react protectively if their nest is disrupted.

Are Wasps Beneficial?

Yes! Wasps are pollinators. They drink nectar and sometimes consume pollen. As they gather these foods and move from plant to plant they help the plant’s fertilization process.

In addition, wasps eat a variety of insects that feed on plants. Wasps help the plants by reducing their predators. If wasps were to disappear from the ecosystem numerous plants would die thus affecting the entire food chain.

My latest book in my series on wildlife rehabilitation - Squirrels!!

Are Wasps Good To Have In The Garden?

Wasps are predatory insects. They eat other insects and spiders. Many of the insects that wasps eat are enemies of the gardener.

You may have heard of Trichogramma wasps or seen them for sale in a gardening store. They are widely used for biological control. The gardener buys the wasps and releases them in their garden to help control pests.

Trichogramma wasps eat a variety of pests such as cabbage moth caterpillars, cutworms, coddling moth caterpillars, and earworms.

Wasp Eggs On a Hormworm

When these eggs hatch they will begin to eat the hornworm.
Photo by Max Wahrhaftig

Kentucky Wasp Species

Black and Yellow Mud Dauber

You have likely seen the nests of this wasp. They gather mud and make free-form mud dwellings on buildings or trees. The nests look like tubes placed side by side.

The female is an incredibly hard and fast worker! She can build on a cylinder in two hours - making an average of 40 trips back and forth between the mud site and the nesting location!

These wasps can be quite irritating (and scary) as they often fly around homes and sheds. However, they are very non-aggressive and rarely sting.

They feed on a variety of spiders including orb spiders and jumping spiders.

Eastern Cicada Killer Wasp

For farmers and gardeners, this wasp is considered a beneficial insect! They hunt and eat cicadas which can damage crops and landscaping plants.

The cicada is up to twice the size of the wasp. Females often must stop and rest when bringing prey back to the nesting site.

In addition, the satellite fly seeks to steal prey from her. She will often stop in the tall grass and hide from a satellite fly that is following her.

European wasp nest — European Paper Wasp

They build a nest by chewing up wood and making it into a paste. They then shape the pulp paste into hexagonal cells.

European Paper Wasp

There are many native species of paper wasp such as the dark paper wasp, however, this invasive species has become very abundant since its introduction in 1978. Unfortunately, they are outcompeting native species.

Their coloring is similar to a yellow jacket and they are often confused. This is helpful to the wasps as birds are less likely to eat them because some species of yellow jackets are toxic.

They make nests by chewing up wood pulp and forming a nest. They may also fix up an old nest from the previous year.

They eat a wide variety of caterpillars.

Four-Banded Sand Wasp

Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus

You have to like this wasp! For the sole reason because its main food source is the stink bug. They also feast on squash bugs and assassin bugs.

The females build nests in sandy soil, sometimes right next to each other forming a wasp community.

Horse Guard Wasp

If you have horses you want this wasp around your barnyard! Another type of sand wasp, this species feeds heavily on horse flies. In addition, they will hunt soldier flies and tachinid flies which are also pests to livestock.

These wasps often hunt early in the morning before the flies warm up and become active.

horse guard wasp — A close up image of the Horse guard wasp, Stictia carolina. Photo by Howard Ensign Evans, Colorado State University

Smoky Winged Beetle Bandit Wasp

Cerceris fumipennis

This wasp is a helpful species because they are a bioindicator. They prey on wood-boring insects such as the emerald ash borer and the European oak borer. Scientists can watch the spread of these pests by monitoring the prey the female wasp brings to her nest.

The female prefers to nest in sand or gravel often along waterways. She may also choose a gravel footpath or parking lot often near woodlands.

Female *C. fumipennis. Photo by* Philip Careless - www.cerceris.info

I wrote this article because I have a concern for pollinators and wanted to learn more about insects. I found out that wasps are fascinating and I was soon going on walks to find them!

References:

Heather Holm (2021) Wasps: Their Biology, Diversity, and Role as Beneficial Insects and Pollinators of Native Plants.

Holm is a biologist and entomologist and also has several books on bees.