nacceptable and possibly dangerous!
The most common social wasp found in the Western United States is the western yellow jacket. This species typically nests underground, but occasionally is found in wall voids and other protected locations. As with other members of this group these insects are predatory in nature but when their natural food is scarce they are attracted to any type of meat or sweets. Certain years these insects become extremely common and are major pests around campgrounds, restaurants and even backyards. One major factor relating to larger numbers during certain years is previous mild winters. Under these conditions the nests may not totally die out during the winter months.
An official from Catalina Island recently contacted me. The yellow jackets had become a major concern over the entire several-mile long island. In Avalon when customers ordered a hamburger and a coke at one of the restaurants it was a matter of whom or what got to the food first. One year on 3 separate occasions children had to Medi-vaced by helicopter out of the Boy Scout camps due to massive number of stings from these wasps.
Students frequently ask me what is the worst sting-bite that I personally have experienced. I have been stung by many scorpions, many species of ants, exotic caterpillars and hundreds of bees at one time and bitten by large beetles, giant waterbugs, assassin bugs, various tarantulas and black widows but the worst encounter was by a colony of yellow jackets. The sting of a yellow jacket or hornet is considerably worse than that of a honeybee. I was once called to remove a honeybee nest from a property. When I got there it was a yellow jacket nest in the ground. Even though, I was only prepared for honeybees (a veil and hat) I decided to continue. After about 15 stings (over a period of 20 minutes) I decided to retreat and get some better protective clothing. By the time I got back to my vehicle most of my body had turned bright red with hives and large red welts. Besides the initial pain I itched for several days. I once received a single sting from a large hornet in Mexico. The initial pain was much worse than that of a honeybee and within less than one minute I had such a severe headache that I could not stand up for several minutes.
Bald Face Hornet-Dolichovespula maculata. This is a North American insect commonly called the bald-faced hornet (or white-faced hornet or white-tailed hornet). Its well-known features include its hanging paper nests and the females' habit of defending them with repeated stings.
Bald Face Hornet. Image Courtesy of PiccoloNamek.
It belongs to a genus of wasps called yellow jackets in North America, but is not called that because it lacks yellow coloring. Instead, it is called a hornet in the American sense of a wasp that builds paper nests, especially one of the subfamily Vespinae. It is not a "true hornet" in the British sense, that is, a member of the genus Vespa in the same subfamily, such as the Asian giant hornet or the European hornet.
The bald-faced hornet lives throughout North America, including southern Canada, the Rocky Mountains, the western coast of the United States, and most of the eastern US. They are most common in the southeastern United States. They are best known for their large football-shaped paper nest, which they build in the spring for raising their young. These nests can sometimes reach 3 feet tall. Like the median wasp (Dolichovespula media) in Europe, bald-faced hornets are extremely protective of their nests and will sting repeatedly if disturbed.
Every year, queens that were born and fertilized at the end of the previous season begin a new colony. The queen selects a location for its nest, begins building it, lays a first batch of eggs and feeds this first group of larvae. These become workers and will assume the chore of expanding the nest — done by chewing up wood which is mixed with a starch in their saliva. This mixture is then spread with their mandibles and legs, drying into the paper-like substance that makes up the nest. The workers also guard