Differences between a bumblebee and a bee and a wasp

Among the insects flying in the meadow there are three genera that a person encounters quite often in his life: a bee, a wasp and a bumblebee. It is difficult to mix them up. They vary greatly in color and size. But sometimes it succeeds, if you do not delve into the details of the color of a large insect flying into the window. We are used to the fact that the bumblebee is the largest of these three species, but the carnivorous wasp - hornet significantly longer, and the body length of some bumblebees is less than that of a bee. Therefore, it will be necessary to understand in more detail how the wasp, bee and bumblebee differ from each other, and in what they are similar.

Similarity

All three groups belong to the family of Hymenoptera. Wasps, bees, bumblebees are social insects and build nests. All three have stings. In families there is a division into queens, working individuals and male drones. After the fertilization of the female, the working individuals drive out the male parasites. Defend their nests by attacking the whole family.

Bees and bumblebees belong to the family of real bees and know how to make honey. Bumblebee honey surpasses bee honey in quality, but is not stored for a long time. Both species of these insects are useful pollinators of plants.

At os and bumblebees smooth sting that they can use repeatedly. Many bumblebees have almost the same paper wasps body coloring.

This is where the similarity ends. Now about how the wasp, bee, bumblebee differ from each other.

Differences

Signs by which you can determine who flies around, much more. Using them, it is possible to accurately recognize the belonging of an insect to one or another family.

In the first place is "shaggy". In terms of hairiness, the rating of insects looks like this:

1. Bumblebee.
2. Bee.
3. Wasp.

Large wasps and small bumblebees are easy to confuse even by color. Among these unrelated insects, there are species that are similar in color and location of marks. But wasps are always “bald”.

A bee occupies an intermediate position in the degree of hairiness and often seems “bald” to an inattentive observer. In fact, she has bristles, but short and rare.

Coloring

Distinguish a bee from a bumblebee and a wasp the degree of coloring is quite easy: the first is always dark brown. The stereotype of striped honey collectors has arisen because of cartoons. You can compare the photo of a bee and a bumblebee. The differences will be immediately noticeable.

Two other insects can have not only striped, but also almost uniform color. For example, glitter wasps are rainbow, and typhus is monochromatic black. But usually people consider wasps only insects with black and yellow stripes on the body. This does not prevent representatives of other families from biting and sometimes being more dangerous.

Body size

The length of the insects may have almost no differences, which means that only by indicating the length of the body it is difficult to say who we are talking about. But the overall dimensions give a clear idea of ​​who is who. This is another point that distinguishes a bumblebee from a bee or wasp.

On a note!

With an equal body length, a representative of the genus Bombus is always larger and more massive than elegant bees and wasps.

Ration and stocking

Here, between the three representatives of the order of Hymenoptera, the biggest differences are observed. The family of real bees is vegetarians and feed on nectar and pollen of flowers. Wasps - omnivores with a bias in the sphere of predators and scavengers.

The difference between bees and bumblebees in this area is that the former make stocks for the winter and go on wintering with the whole family. The second honey is needed only for feeding larvae. Of the whole bumblebee family, only the queen remains to winter. Therefore, knowing how to make honey, bumblebees do not harvest it and use it only for feeding larvae.

Wasps can eat:

• ripe fruits;
• jam;
• insects
• carrion.

They feed larvae with protein food. To do this, in nature, workers catch insects, including green cadaver flies. In urban areas, small pieces of meat are gnawed at the market or a dead animal is found.

They do not make winter stocks, since the entire aspen family dies out in the fall, and only the queen “leaves” for the winter.

Jacks

The family of real bees, in the absence of ready-made artificial hives and bumblebees, finds a suitable cavity and begins to build a honeycomb there. Their nests do not have a specific shape, as they depend on the cavity in which the queen settled.

The most common and familiar to us real wasps, at the sight of which people are not mistaken in the identity of the insect, build nests on their own. There can be two types in Russia hornet's nests: a vertically elongated top (such is painted in cartoons) and a curved “plate” of irregular shape. "Plate" resembles the core of a sunflower, from which seeds were taken.

Important!

An “elongated spinning top" may turn out to be a hornet's nest.

Wasps build their nests from chewed cellulose glued together with saliva. The structure of the nest material strongly resembles thick paper.

Stings

The bee has notches and a “lock” on the tip. This prevents the sting from being removed from the victim’s body. Therefore, the working individual protecting the nest dies after the attack. For this reason, the bees attack themselves only if they climb into the hive.

Bumblebee and hornet sting insects can easily extract from the victim and use them again. Bite pain bumblebee, wasps and bees directly depends on their size. Moreover, the wasp often bites "just like that." With a bumblebee, one must try very hard to make him sting.

Behavior

Bumblebee is a loner. If you disturb him, he will fly away. Representatives of the genus Bombus attack only in case of danger to the nest.

A single working bee can sometimes curl around an object, figuring out the degree of its danger to itself. But he won’t sting if he doesn’t wave his arms and do not make sudden movements. Friendly attack only when attacking the hive.

The wasp is the most absurd and annoying creature of all three. It can curl around an object for a long time. And stings often because of "I want so."

If suddenly disappear

Ecologists of the world are sounding the alarm, indicating a decrease in the number of bee and bumblebee families. If you imagine that wasps, bumblebees, and bees suddenly disappeared, then hardly anyone would notice the absence of the former. Their place will be taken by other insect lovers and fell. It makes no difference who will destroy the pests. However, one should not forget that in addition to harm wasps benefit, as well as their relatives.

But the disappearance of pollinators humanity will feel instantly. Without bees - pollinators of a significant part of fruit trees and shrubs and bumblebees working on clover and in greenhouses, mankind will suffer hunger. But what to do with the reduction in the number of pollinators, scientists do not yet know.

Just wondering

Finally, some interesting facts about bees, wasps and bumblebees:

• After fertilization of the uterus, the bees attack the drones and drive them out of the hive forever. "At large" drones quickly die, because they can not independently get their own food.
• Wasps make honeybut few saw him. This almost microscopic droplet at the bottom of a new cell needs the larva only for the first time, until it becomes able to consume protein food.
• Bumblebees wake up before everyone else and the first to collect nectar.
• Hornet - a predator that prefers live prey.
• A working bee can tell family members the way to a food source.

All these insects are very interesting, if you do not treat them as annoying and unnecessary creatures. They bring more benefits than harm, and do not destroy them without extreme need.