Hobbies And Interests
Yellowjackets
Although yellowjacket species vary across the U.S., all yellowjackets have coloring in common: bands of alternating yellow and black along the rear of the abdomen. Young yellowjackets are often mistaken for honeybees, but all yellowjackets lack the dark-amber fuzz and broad, rear legs of a honeybee. Yellow jackets do not burrow into wood. They use wood in constructing their nests by chewing small slivers of wood into pulp with their strong mandibles and pasting together a nest in a papier-mâché construction for housing themselves and their young.
Wasps
Although wasps seem like predatory creatures, they live off nectar as adults. Wasps utilize dead insects to feed to their young in their larval stage. Humans avoid wasps because of their painful stings. Some wasp species invade other insect's nests, such as the honeybee, and steal their nectar. However, they are usually solitary creatures. With only one exception, wasps do not burrow into wood but live much as the yellowjacket lives, creating pulp-based nests from wood bits.
Hornets
Hornets are unique in the family vespa due to their length. Hornets reach up to 2-1/5 inches in length and have the most powerful stings. Hornets are territorial and build large nests of wood pulp. Hornet queens begin building their nests in the spring within hollow trees. They make exceptionally large nests for the vespa family, housing up to 700 members by the end of summer. Hornets take wood product from bark, homes, cardboard boxes and even paper bags, but do not burrow into wood.
Wood Wasps
This particular member of the vespa family does burrow into wood and is a problem for some homeowners. They are rare and often do not justify the costs of fumigation. The wood wasp burrows into wood and lays her eggs. When this wood is harvested and used as lumber, the eggs are usually intact and hatch once they are in a home. This is rarely a significant problem for homeowners, as wood wasps prefer using the softer surfaces of dead or dying trees that were attacked by fungi. They bore 3/4 inch into the wood along the grain and lay their eggs.