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Common Names for Yellowjacket Wasps

- Different names for these social insects -

Summary: In the US the term yellowjacket refers to a group of social wasps that build large nests both above ground (aerial nests) and below ground in cavities (ground nests).

Jack DeAngelis, PhD
OSU Ext. Entomologist (ret.)

The term "wasp" is a general word for any one of thousands of species of predatory and parasitic Hymenoptera (wasps, bees and ants). There are tiny parasitic wasps no larger than a gnat, solitary thread-waisted wasps [picture] and social wasps with colonies that rival bee hives in complexity. A yellowjacket is a particular type of social wasp in one, or a few, genera such as the genus Vespula.

Common names tend to vary somewhat by region and can be very confusing. For example, there is a wasp called the "baldfaced hornet" [picture] that actually belongs to one of the genera that in the US are commonly called yellowjackets (Vespula and Dolichovespula). We should really call this insect the "baldfaced yellowjacket". True "hornets", on the other hand, are in the genus Vespa.
In some countries the term yellowjacket is not used at all and is mostly replaced by the phrase "social vespids" or "social wasps" or simply "wasps". The phrase, social wasps, refers to those wasps that build colonies in which there is a queen, workers and a division of labor.

 
 

Yellowjacket wasps

In the US, the term yellowjacket generally refers to social wasps in the genera Vespula and Dolichovespula. While most species of yellowjackets go unnoticed, a few get our attention because they are pests. Problems arise when the wasps seek to share our picnic food or, more importantly, sting us when they see us as a threat to the colony.

Two closely related species Vespula vulgaris (common yellowjacket) and Vespula germanica (European or German yellowjacket) [picture] are probably the most frequently encountered "problem" yellowjackets worldwide. These species build mostly underground nests and have adopted a scavenger habit in addition to the usual predatory lifestyle.

Many researchers feel that the ability to scavenge may account for their relative success over strictly predatory species. It also accounts for their classification as pests. Western North America has an additional scavenger species, Vespula pensylvanica or the western yellowjacket.

Related information: [using yellowjacket traps], [wasp, bee and ant stings], [safely eliminating nests], [frequently asked questions], [European paper wasp]

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Jack DeAngelis, Ph.D.

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