What is the difference between a bee, a bumblebee, a wasp and a hornet, and which of them is more dangerous?

If you go out into the meadow, you can meet insects that people encounter quite often - bumblebees, wasps and bees. They are so different from each other that it is simply impossible to confuse them. The main differences are in their sizes, as well as their coloring. Most often, people come into contact with wasps and bees, but bumblebees are much less likely to be seen, although they have a more massive body. Despite this, there are species that are even smaller in size than bees, although bees are different.

Their similarities

All three species of insects belong to the same family Hymenoptera. These are social insects that build nests and live in families where there is a strict division of responsibilities. The family consists of female queens, female workers and male drones, which the female workers expel from the family after the queen is fertilized. The family defends its nests with all available forces.

Bumblebees and bees belong to the genus of true bees, so they know how to make honey. Bumblebees collect higher quality honey, but not in such volumes as bees, and it is not stored for such a long time. Bumblebees and bees are unique in that they pollinate a variety of plants, ensuring good harvests.

Wasps and bumblebees have a smooth sting, which is used by individuals repeatedly to protect themselves from enemies. But in bees it is not smooth, therefore, having bitten a person, she is not able to pull him out of the person’s body and dies.

These are almost all the similarities, since then there are only differences.

What does a bumblebee eat?

Photo: Shmel

These animals are the closest relatives of honey bees. But despite this, their diet is very different. Wasps have a wider list of “foods” that are suitable for consumption. They eat tree sap, flower nectar, sugar, fruit juice, and can enjoy jam and honey diluted in water. This diet is not suitable for bumblebees.

Representatives of this genus feed exclusively on nectar and pollen. They collect them from many types of plants. The list of plants is huge, which is why bumblebees are called universal pollinators. They bring enormous benefits to human agricultural activities, quickly increasing productivity.

Adult bumblebees are also responsible for feeding their larvae. To do this, they bring fresh nectar to the nest. Sometimes, instead of nectar, the larvae are offered their own honey. Bumblebees also make honey, but it is somewhat different from the usual bee honey. Bumblebee honey is much thinner, has a light consistency, and a lighter color. It doesn't taste as sweet and has virtually no odor. This honey is stored very poorly.

Interesting fact: Before dawn, one bumblebee always appears in the bumblebee nest and begins to buzz loudly. At first, scientists believed that in this way he encourages other individuals to get to work. However, it turned out that the bumblebee was simply shivering from the cold and trying to warm up, because in the early morning the air temperature was quite low.

Bumblebees prefer to choose mostly bright flowers for pollination. Only in rare cases can animals feast on the sap of the tree. During their feeding, these animals transfer seeds, which helps increase productivity. The most favorite food of this insect is clover.

Differences between these insects

There are a number of signs by which you can easily determine what kind of insect is flying around - a bumblebee, a wasp or a bee.

The first sign is hairiness, which is distributed among insects in the following order:

1. First place goes to bumblebee.
2. Second place goes to the bee.
3. Third place goes to the wasp.

If a bumblebee and a wasp are the same size, then they can easily be confused by color, but in any case the wasp’s body will be “bald.” Bees occupy an intermediate position in terms of hairiness, so for those who do not understand this, it may seem that the body of a bee is also devoid of hairiness. In fact, if you look closely, her body is covered with bristles, but they are not so long, so they are not too noticeable.

Flight Character

During their flight, wasps often make jerky movements, every now and then hovering in one place for a couple of moments. They are able to move almost at lightning speed a considerable distance from the place where they were just located. The exception is large wasps (scolia, hornets), their movements are not so fast.

The flight of bees is smoother, but bumblebees, on the contrary, fly heavily, rather slowly and with a low hum. For a long time there was an opinion that bumblebees generally fly contrary to the laws of aerodynamics.

Coloring

The coloring options for insects are so numerous that it is not difficult to distinguish between a bumblebee, a wasp and a bee. The bee is distinguished by dark brown shades. In cartoons, there is a certain stereotype, which is why honey collectors are drawn with stripes. If you look closely at the images of insects, their difference immediately catches your eye.

Bumblebees and wasps can have completely monotonous colors, including stripes. There are glossy wasps, which are distinguished by rainbow colors, and typhias, for example, are painted in a monotonous black color. However, most people believe that wasps have exclusively classic colors, with a predominance of yellow and black stripes. It should be noted that representatives of other families that do not have similar coloring can be dangerous and can bite just as painfully.

Population and species status

Photo: Bumblebee insect

The bumblebee is an important pollinator. It brings enormous benefits to human agricultural activities and to nature in general, pollinating forest, cultivated, and meadow plants. They are universal and “work” much faster than bees. Their participation is especially important in the spread of legumes, alfalfa, and clover. We can safely say that these plants grow in such quantities only thanks to bumblebees. For example, bumblebees were brought to Australia specifically for the purpose of breeding and pollinating clover.

The bumblebee species is quite numerous. Today alone there are more than three hundred varieties. These animals live in large numbers on almost all continents of the Earth. The exception is Antarctica. Bumblebees reproduce quite quickly, skillfully camouflage themselves, and are sometimes bred by people for agricultural purposes. For these reasons, the population of these animals is stable.

In general, the bumblebee population is not currently in danger. The species has been assigned the status of “least concern”. However, it can be noted that it is impossible to estimate the population of these insects with high accuracy for objective reasons. They are very small and sometimes live in hard-to-reach places. It is physically impossible to determine the exact number of these animals.

Body measurements

In nature, there are species whose body length is almost the same, so using this characteristic it can be difficult to distinguish who is who. Despite this, general dimensions and body structure can indicate who we are talking about. This is another sign of how these insects can be distinguished.

Important fact! Despite the length of the body, the representative of the Bombus species always looks more massive than the graceful bees and wasps.

Nests and honeycombs

This point indicates the differences between these representatives of Hymenoptera rather than their similarities. Domestic bees live in human-made hives. Wild bees live in tree hollows.

Important! Bumblebees, despite their frightening appearance, impressive size and loud bass buzz, look for more secluded places to live and most often build houses in the ground and very rarely in birdhouses and tree trunks. The shape of honeycombs in bees and wasps has a neat, symmetrical appearance.

Their symmetrical honeycombs look larger than the nests of bumblebee larvae lined up in a row

The shape of honeycombs in bees and wasps has a neat, symmetrical appearance. Their symmetrically shaped honeycombs look larger than the nests of bumblebee larvae lined up in a row.

Bees live in fairly large families, several times the number of members of the bee family. The latter simply do not need such a mass of bee souls since they are inactive in winter, unlike bees, which maintain their own pace in the cold season.

Diet

This factor has a rather serious influence on determining the differences between insects. Bumblebees and bees, which are members of the true bee family, are distinguished by the fact that they are exclusively vegetarian. As a rule, they feed on pollen, nectar and honey, which cannot be said about wasps. These insects are omnivores, with a bias towards predators that are able to feed even on carrion.

These insects also have significant differences in their way of life. Bees, for example, make provisions for the winter and hibernate as a family. Bumblebees do not store for the winter and use honey to feed their larvae. All working individuals die with the onset of cold weather, and only the queen remains to spend the winter. As for wasps, their diet is very varied.

Wasps feed on:

• Ripe fruits.
• They love all kinds of sweets.
• They catch insects.
• They do not refuse carrion.

Wasps feed their larvae with protein foods. To do this, working individuals catch various insects, and in the city they find various pieces of meat, including dead animals.

At the same time, they do not make provisions for the winter, since the entire family, except for the queen, dies in the fall.

The amazing life of bees and wasps

Who is stronger: bumblebees or wasps

It’s worth saying right away that these representatives are very different in their behavior. If bumblebees are very calm and use their sting only in very extreme cases, then wasps, on the contrary, are aggressive and can calmly attack an enemy that is larger than them.

Wasps very often attack hornet nests to rob them of their food supplies. When attacking, they use both strong jaws and a stinger. In the case when the bumblebee family is weak, the robbers win, but often, bumblebees can easily cope with such uninvited guests.

Formation of nests

Real bees and their families build nests in a hive or in another place if a ready-made hive is not available. Their nests consist of honeycombs that have a regular shape, in contrast to the nest itself, which can have any shape. The shape of the nest depends on the shape of the cavity in which the bees build their nest.

As for wasps, they build nests on their own in any suitable place. As a rule, wasp families are not as numerous as bee families, so their nests are not large. Mostly, wasp nests are found in the form of an elongated top or in the form of a curved plate of irregular shape. If you look at this plate, it resembles a sunflower, but without seeds.

It is important to know! The nest in the form of an elongated top may also belong to hornets.

Wasps build nests from cellulose glued together with their saliva. If you pick up the nest, it resembles an object glued together from thick cardboard.

Wasps and hornets

The first thing that distinguishes them is the use of material for the construction of their homes. Aspen families use thin tree fibers as building material.

They moisten them with saliva and chew them thoroughly, which makes it possible to use the material to build honeycombs. The honeycombs are located on the underside of the nest, there are several layers of them. In appearance, such a house resembles a roll of paper.

Hornets have a similar construction method, but they use different material. Rotted fibers of stumps and wood are used as building material; for this reason, their nests are dark brown.

It is also worth saying that wasps are among those representatives who absolutely do not care or look after their offspring. The egg is laid in a cell, after which it is sealed and the insect does not return to it.

If we talk about the diet of these representatives, they prefer to eat:

• Fruit juice.
• Nectar.
• Pollen.
• Tree sap.
• Small insects (sciences, caterpillars, etc.)

Regarding the bite of these representatives, they will bring severe pain, swelling and redness to a person. But it is believed that hornets pose a great danger to humans.

Stings

The bee's sting is disposable if it bites a person. Due to the presence of notches, it is not able to pull it out of human skin. After being stung, the bee dies, but if it stings some other creature, it can survive. A bee can be aggressive if it swings its arms too much.

As for wasps and bumblebees, they have multiple-use stings and can bite a person more than once. At the same time, a wasp can bite just like that if it doesn’t like something. The most harmless creature in this regard is the bumblebee. To make him bite, you need to try very hard.

Differences between a bumblebee and a bee

First of all, you need to understand that these are close relatives and they have quite a lot in common. In total, there are about 300 species of bumblebees; their habitat is very extensive; they live throughout the continents.

The first external difference is the rounded shape of the body, which is also quite fluffy. Females are also distinguished by their shiny black hind legs, which are covered with hairs. The long hairs are far from being a decoration; they are a basket into which the bumblebee puts pollen while collecting.

They have a tubular sting structure. The sting is smooth without notches, which allows you to apply multiple bites without harming yourself.

Regarding bees, there are more than 20 thousand species, and many of them still remain unstudied. We all know that they are hard workers, the main producers of honey and pollinators of plants. They have 6 legs; the hind ones have villi in which they store pollen.

The tip is empty in the middle and has notches on the upper side. When biting, when the bee wants to remove the sting from the wound, the insects cling to the edges and the sting comes off along with a piece of the abdomen, which leads to the death of the insect.

So, the following differences can be distinguished:

• Bumblebees have large body sizes, they are 2 times larger than bees.
• The bumblebee has a brighter body color.
• Bees are used to pollinate plants in fields, gardens and other open areas, and hornets are used for pollination in greenhouses.
• Hornets can sting multiple times, but the bee only stings once and then dies.

Behavior

The bumblebee is different in that it prefers to fly separately and, if disturbed, it will simply fly away and that’s it.

A bee, even if it is alone, can hover around an object. Finding out how dangerous this object is for her. However, she is unlikely to be able to bite if she does not wave her arms. Bees will attack in any case if the peace of the family or hive is disturbed.

The wasp is considered the most annoying insect and is capable of biting in the most harmless situation. Moreover, a wasp sting is characterized by sharp and severe pain.

Comparative characteristics

Bees are people's friends. They are famous honey plants, they are beneficial, but they bite. They are most similar to bumblebees in appearance, this is especially evident in the hairiness of the body. They are one step higher in evolution than wasps. Bees rarely bite; they die after being bitten.

Bees

Wasps are an intermediate link. They are vegetarians, some are carnivores. But they are more elegant, smooth, without hairs. They are aggressive, but in moderation. Before stinging, they hit their heads in warning. Some are loners.

Wasps

Hornets are a type of social wasp, the largest of all representatives. They harm many honey plants and wasps. Hornets sting people painfully, and their houses are real works of art. But they help gardeners destroy pests.

Hornets

Bumblebees are furry, buzzing flyers, most similar to bees, but larger in size. They make honey, but it is difficult to obtain and store. The benefit of them is that bumblebees perfectly pollinate plants, even in the coldest weather and those that bees do not like.

bumblebees

In order to clarify the differences and similarities of insects, the characteristics are collected in a comparative table.

If these insects suddenly disappear

Currently, environmentalists are sounding the alarm due to the fact that the number of bumblebee and bee families is noticeably declining. If wasps disappear, then hardly anyone will think about it, although it cannot be considered that wasps are completely useless insects.

If bees and bumblebees disappear, then humanity will face real famine, since there will be no one to pollinate cultivated plants, and humans themselves will not be able to cope with this impossible task. Scientists do not even know what can be done at present to restore the number of these families.

Dream Interpretation, Bee

For bad weather. Bees hovering over your head mean victory, triumph, success. Keep bees - get joy from your wife and earn your living with honest work. Seeing bees attacking means an epidemic, pestilence. Killing a bee means experiencing obstacles, hindrances. A hive with bees - dreams of wealth. An empty hive means receiving punishment without guilt. Bees swarm in a dream - the matter will not end in success. Bees sting in the leg - to the joy associated with material gain, acquisition. A swarm of bees - take an orphan into the house, this dream can also mean the ruin of a family. A bee stings - for a young woman, pregnancy. A beehive in a dream - a big profit, an increase in income or an increase in wages. An apiary filled with buzzing and hard-working bees in a dream means that your work is more useful for other than for yourself. Seeing an apiary and being on it means receiving good news by mail.

Interesting Facts

These insects are interesting because they:

• Bees, after fertilizing the queen with males, attack them and expel them from the family. After this, they quickly die, as they cannot provide themselves with food.
• Wasps can also make honey, but no one has seen it. The microscopic volume of honey is located at the bottom of the cell. It is necessary so that the larvae have something to eat at first. After this, they switch to eating protein foods.
• Bumblebees appear on the inflorescences earlier than anyone else and begin to pollinate plants before anyone else.
• The hornet is a true predator that prefers to feed on live insects.
• A worker bee can transmit information to its relatives about where the food item is located.

Each insect has its pros and cons. Unfortunately, many people unjustifiably destroy insects, although absolutely useless living creatures do not exist in nature. If some species disappear, humanity simply will not be able to survive.

The Secret Life of Bumblebees

Differences between the most popular insects - wasps, bees, bumblebees, hornets

In warm weather, especially outside the city, an encounter with stinging insects is simply inevitable, but it does not have to end in a painful bite, because if you know why these insects sting, you can simply avoid such a situation.

It is worth saying that in most cases, people themselves are to blame for the attack, since stinging insects are quite peaceful towards people and do not show aggression for no reason.

These representatives have a huge number of similarities, but at the same time many differences; each insect is special and unique. Let's take a closer look at how they differ and their features.

How a bumblebee collects pollen

In the bumblebee family, responsibilities are strictly distributed. In the nest there is a detachment of scouts who are the first (immediately at sunrise) to fly out in search of food. Having received information about the direction and distance where they need to go, the flying females get ready for the journey.

Bumblebees work until the evening, having managed to make several visits during the day. If they collect nectar with their proboscis, then the pollen itself sticks to the legs and abdomen, thus entering the nest.

What bumblebees eat is very important to them. If there is no source of pollen within a 3.5 km radius in the area, the insects may die.

Bite differences

Wasps, being the most aggressive, often use their stings. A wasp sting is quite painful. In addition, wasps are quite capable of biting with their powerful jaws (they will not bite through human skin, but such a bite is more than enough for small insects)

The wasp's sting is smooth and does not remain in the wound, which can lead to a second attack. This does not harm her health. Wasp venom provokes severe swelling and burning, accompanied by severe pain.

Bees use their sting for protection only as a last resort. They can only sting once, causing harm to themselves and death. The sting has serrations, it remains at the site of the bite with the back part of the body torn out (a bag of poison, which, even after the death of the bee, continues to shrink for another 15-20 minutes). The pain is not as severe as with a wasp sting. There are no other significant differences in the bites of wasps and bees.

During an attack, insects signal danger to their relatives, who all attack the offender together. Bumblebees can also behave this way, but since they often fly alone, in the event of a conflict, you only have to deal with one individual.

The bite of a bumblebee is much stronger than that of a bee, but somewhat weaker than that of a hornet. The smooth sting does not remain in the wound. Only female bumblebees can sting.

Why don't bees and other insects swarm?

Bees swarm whenever a colony reaches its maximum number of bees (up to 5,000 in winter, up to 40,000 in summer), and another bee colony must be formed. The older bees fly with the original queen to the appropriate location to begin building the honeycomb again. In the original hive, the young bees wait for a new queen, who has produced a queen bee before leaving, slips in and a new state can be established.

When you find a swarm in your garden or area, don't worry, they usually won't sting until they find a new spot. It may even happen that several bee strains with queens evolve from the original strain, if the first new queen immediately kills its rivals. Wasps do not swarm because only their queen survives the winter.

Where is it located and what does it look like?

Where is the bee's stinger? It is located in the last segments of the abdomen and is a modified ovipositor. At rest, it is completely hidden in the abdomen of the insect, in a special case in a sac-like chamber, to which a narrowed gap leads through the 7th abdominal part. Connected by a duct to glands that produce a toxic substance.

The structure of a bee.

What does a bee's sting look like? This is a pointed organ, which is also part of the insect’s body. In honey bees, it has a sawtooth appearance due to the serrations on the sides. If you examine a bee's sting under a microscope, you will see that:

• in working specimens there are 10 serrations;
• the uterus has only 4.

The uterine organ is large in size compared to the organ of ordinary bees.

A bee sting under a microscope.

How do bumblebees reproduce?

Black shemale

Every spring a new family begins. The overwintered queen flies out of hiding, finds a suitable nesting place and lays eggs there. As a rule, these are 8-16 oval elongated eggs, hatching on the 6th day. The larva develops quickly and in the second decade turns into a pupa.

Every spring a new family begins

A month after laying, the first adults appear. All this time, the queen was actively collecting nectar to feed her babies. Now it's their turn to take care of food. Young females take on other responsibilities.

Males leave the nest 3-5 days after growing up in search of a new queen to mate with.

Does it attack a person?

Seeing a large bee-like insect, many people get scared, not knowing whether bumblebees bite people. On their own initiative, they do not attack a person unless there are aggressive actions on his part.

Having seen a bumblebee nest near their home, many try to get rid of the insect, not only by fumigating them with smoke, but also by destroying the “houses”.

Note! You should not try to catch bumblebees with your hands. Even the male is able to stand up for himself, biting through the palm with his sharp jaws.

Can a bumblebee bite a person on its own initiative?

This is possible in 2 cases:

• if the clothes are blue, for some reason this shade is dangerous for insects; therefore, one can expect an inadequate reaction; although the sting practically does not pierce the fabric itself, the insect can injure an open area of ​​the body;
• Bumblebees are aggressive towards the smells of alcohol, fumes, perfumes and tobacco; this can become a reason for an attack by a whole swarm of insects that find themselves in close proximity.

Sometimes bee relatives are irritated by the smell of oxidized metal. This “aroma” of the body arises from constantly wearing watches with bracelets and jewelry. The metal oxidizes under the influence of sweat secreted by the skin, which is quite typical for the hot season.

Bumblebees are also attracted by the smell of fried meat, watermelons, melons, and sweet drinks. Therefore, it is not recommended to have picnics near insect homes, so as not to brush off the annoying invasion later. This unnerves the bumblebees and can become a reason for an attack.

Bumblebees are also attracted by the smell of fried meat, watermelons, melons, and sweet drinks.

If a person does suffer, it is advisable to take immediate action, even if there is no tendency to allergies:

• apply fresh parsley or plantain leaf to the injured area, changing the compress every 2 hours until the swelling subsides;
• Dressings with pieces of apple, raw potatoes, onions mixed with honey help well;
• you can periodically treat the wound with lemon juice;
• Traditional healers recommend making compresses with soda solution, activated carbon slurry or validol.

If the bite is in a sensitive area (for example, in the eye area), it is better to use cold compresses or ice cubes. This will help relieve pain, relieve swelling and slow down the absorption of poison.

Additional Information. A compress using refined sugar moistened with water can remove bumblebee toxin from a wound.

You should not drink alcohol after a bite - alcohol will only intensify the allergic reaction. But hot sweet tea and plenty of liquid will be welcome.

In some cases, it is more rational to seek medical help:

• if several bumblebees are stung at once;
• when the bite was in the throat area, oral mucosa or eyeball;
• if an elderly person or child is injured;
• in the presence of severe pain, swelling, suppuration and chills.

Bumblebee bites
Pay attention! If the victim is allergic, after contact with a bumblebee you should not wait for the body’s reaction, but immediately consult a doctor.

It is most dangerous if there was not just one bite, but several individuals. In this case, the amount of poison entering the body from the sting increases many times, and the internal systems have difficulty coping with intoxication.

Such situations are rare, because bumblebees usually do not attack in a flock. More often this happens if there have been attempts to destroy the insect nest. Even when it was accidentally touched, bumblebees will not figure it out; their self-preservation instinct turns on.

You should not hunt for wild honey produced by bumblebees - its taste is in many ways inferior to that of bees. But attempts at such penetrations can have disastrous consequences.