Posted by Wade on July 22, 2004

Q: I sparyed a yellowjacket nest near my back door.

I collected all of the wasps and was trying to identify which one might be the queen.

I know the fenales have stingers.

But i can not see any noticable differences.

Is there a way to tell which one is the queen.

A: The best way to learn natural history is to examine things closely and find out for yourself - sounds as though that's exactly what you're doing. Although with Honey Bees, the queen is obviously larger than other workers, in the wasps, the queen looks just the same as the workers. The difference between a queen wasp and the other female workers is that she is fertile and her ovaries are actively producing eggs. The worker females are not fertile and their ovaries actually shrink in size and are not functional but that's the only difference. You are correct that all of the females have stingers. Males are produced at the end of the summer (they have no stinger) so you probably didn't have any of those when you sprayed the nest.

You called your wasps Yellowjackets. Yellowjackets build their nests underground in a small cavity, like an abandonded chipmunk hole, that's out of sight. The wasps you speak of are probably one of the paper makers that builds its nest out in the open. There are a variety of paper making wasps across the continent so it's hard to know exactly which one yours might be. Thanks for the question.

John Wiessinger ( July 23, 2004)