I save a lot of articles for later. My email box has a designated folder for them, not organized in any manner. They are all just lopped in there together. I do this to collect ideas for my daily blog. I’m not an encyclopedia after all, just good at finding resources.
This morning, I saw an article entitled “Demystified: What’s the Difference Between a Bee and a Wasp?” It struck my interest because, at the start of my day, a fly decided to follow me throughout the house. First, while I made my thermos of coffee to take to my office, next into the bathroom for my morning hygiene routine, and finally, into my office where I would be writing for the next three hours. All at 3:30 in the morning. I had to look up the average life span of a fly, as I have no intention of killing him. (It’s 28 days, for the record. I guess he’s moving in.)
Back to the bees. As I read the article, I was disappointed. They merely distinguished that wasps can sting you time and again, and go on with their happy wasp lives. But bees only sting once and then they die. Making that kind of decision is a very big one for the bee. The article also said that the bee is fuzzy, and the wasp is sleeker. And that was about it. Milktoast. As I read the piece, I thought there had to be at least 20 different kinds of bees in Ohio alone. And wasps? Surely there was a wide variety of them too.
As it turns out, both are correct. The Ohio Division of Wildlife publishes a Bee and Wasp online guide. It is very interesting. At least, it was to me. For instance, I found out that ONLY female bees and wasps can sting. Males, ahem, are useless. I also learned that both bees and wasps are pollinators, doing all that good work, from one place to the next. Bee and Wasp Guide HERE
Wasps are predators of other insects. How about that? Probably my favorite named wasp is the Smoky-Winged Beetle Bandit Wasp. It sounds like he is from the Wild, Wild West. Anyway, this Beetle Bandit is an “agent” for detecting the Emerald Ash Borer, that mean beetle from Asia, that is decimating so many of our ash trees.
So yes, the wasps and the bees are our friends. But don’t be fooled by all of them. There are droves of insects out there who are “mimics” — looking and acting like wasps and bees. Bee Impersonators.
But here in Ohio, we have a lot of the real thing. I counted 22 different types of bees. There were 38 varieties of wasps. Of course, the darling of them all is the Western Honey Bee. But there are also some interesting counterparts. Like the Polyester Bee, the Squash Bee, and the Cuckoo Bees. I have images of all of these. The Polyester Bee in her matching pantsuit, from head to toe, a nice shade of turquoise polyester, I think. The Squash Bee, playing Squash all the time, because the Racquetball Courts are always busy. And then the beloved Cuckoo Bee, who spends much of his cross-eyed days just running into things.
I would be remiss if I did not mention the Bald-Faced Wasp, who, as the name suggests, tells a whole lot of lies. There is also one called the Spider Wasp. I’m not sure I want to know what this one might do.
My point to all of this, they had wonderful photos, and each bee and wasp looked completely different from the next. Some bees looked wasp-ish, and the other way around. So the article about “demystifying” the difference didn’t do much in the way of clearing away the perplexities. But ODNR did the trick.
One thing is for sure, I will take greater care in noticing our flying friends during the summer months. Especially now that there are Killer Hornets in the United States, all the way from Asia. They call them Killer Hornets because they can kill you. Dead. Like we needed more to worry about.
Meanwhile, back in my office. I may be rethinking my current promise to peace. That 28-day housefly has buzzed my head about a dozen times now. He may be a new fly species, with a life span of just one day.
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“Everything takes time. Bees have to move very fast to stay still.”
― David Foster Wallace, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
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“If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.”
― Maurice Maeterlinck, The Life of the Bee
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“Birds fly with faith in their wings.”
― Avijeet Das
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