What Are the Differences Between a Yellow Jacket and a Butterfly?

Scientific Order

• The yellow jacket and butterfly are from the same class Insecta; however, they are from difference scientific orders. The yellow jacket is from the order Hymenoptera, an order which includes ants and bees. The butterfly is of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the moth.

Color

• The butterfly comes in a variety of color, depending on the species; its scales can be different shades of blue, green, red, brown and black. The yellow jacket wasp is generally black and yellow. Butterflies are colored on the scales of their wings, while the yellow jacket's body is colored.

Social Behavior

• The butterfly is a solitary insect. It lives alone, pollinating flowers until it is time to mate. A male butterfly looks for a suitable mate and begins a courtship. Once the butterflies have reproduced, they separate. In contrast, the yellow jacket wasp lives in a colony of thousands of insects. The wasps work together to build the nest, lay eggs and feed the young.

Defensive Behavior

• Each insect has a different level of defense. Female yellow jacket wasps have a stinger at the tip of the abdomen. It will sting an animal or human if it feels threatened. The butterfly is defenseless against predators. It uses camouflage, flying and mimicry to reduce predator attacks. Some species of butterflies are poisonous; however, they don't inject this poison. A predator that eats a poisonous butterfly will likely become sick.

Diet

• The yellow jacket has a diet of sweet nectar, insects and arachnids, such as spiders. The butterfly mainly eats liquid food with its tube-like tongue. Most butterflies sip nectar from flowers, while other species will sip rotting fruit liquid and animal fluids.