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St. Joseph
Kansas City
St. Joseph
Yellowjacket Identification & Behavior
Bee-sized wasps with black-and-yellow stripes; not hairy and don’t collect pollen
Build enclosed paper nests, usually underground
Bald-Faced Hornet Identification & Behavior
Large, aggressive wasps with black-and-white coloring and a painful sting
Build paper nests from chewed wood pulp, often under eaves, in trees, or dense shrubs
Nests can house hundreds of hornets by late summer, making them dangerous to approach
Paper Wasp Identification & Behavior
Nests are tan, papery, open honeycomb structures hanging from a single stalk
Wasps are black or brown with yellow or reddish markings
Build nests using wood fibers from fences, benches, and other untreated wood
Carpenter Bee Identification & Behavior
Resemble bumblebees but have a smooth, shiny black abdomen
Drill round ¼–⅜ inch holes in wood and leave sawdust beneath entry points
Commonly found under decks, railings, eaves, fences, and playsets
Honeybee Identification & Behavior
Worker bees are ½–⅝ inch long; and queens are larger, brown with golden hair and black abdominal stripes
Worker bees have barbed stingers and die after stinging
Nests are typically found in tree cavities, wall voids, attics, or beekeeper hives—not in the ground
Colony Management
Honeybee treatment is handled differently due to their importance to the environment
A beekeeper must first attempt to remove the colony
If removal is not possible, management approval is required before any treatment
Treatment is only considered when the colony is a threat and located inside a structure
Direct treatment is a last resort and may cause property damage, so preservation is prioritized
Identification & Behavior
One of the largest wasps in Kansas and Missouri, often over 1½ inches long
Males hover to guard territory and may fly close but are not aggressive
Females dig tunnels in loose or sandy soil and use their sting only to paralyze cicadas for their larvae
Identification & Behavior
Large, fuzzy bees with black and yellow (sometimes orange) banded coloring
Easily distinguished from carpenter bees by their fuzzy abdomen
Commonly seen foraging on flowers for nectar and pollen
Important pollinators; some plants rely heavily on them
Can sting if provoked but are generally not aggressive
Identification & Behavior
Wasps with narrow, threadlike waists; colors vary by species (black and yellow, black with blue wings, metallic blue)
Solitary wasps that build nests out of mud
Nests can be identified by structure and location
Rarely aggressive; found on exterior surfaces or inside voids like eaves, behind siding, and attics.
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