The Bee Guy - Identify Bees, Wasps, Hornets, Asian Beetles, Cluster Flys, Box Edler Bugs

Dennis Huber, The Bee Guy, Exterminator

Identify and Control Your Pest

Honey Bee	Honey bees may establish a nest inside the wall of the house or other building causing a problem, a health hazard and a serious danger to the structure. Honey bee colonies in wall or attic voids are a much more serious problem than yellow jacket wasps. Yellow jacket colonies are annual and the wasps will disappear in the winter with or without treatment. Honey bee nests may last for many years without treatment and will contain honey stored inside the walls. The honey can ruin walls and ceilings if it is not removed. Combs inside buildings should be removed to avoid problems with honey-stained walls and pest problems, such as carpet beetles, and attracting bee swarms in the future. Never use honey or wax from colonies that have been treated with an insecticide. Controlling honey bee nests can be challenging. Call a pest control specialist if you spot bees around or coming out of your home.
Paper Wasps	Paper wasps, hornets and yellow jackets are a potential health threat to Wisconsinites. Hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people in the United States die each year from allergic reactions to the venom of these insects. Wasps, hornets and yellow jackets are more dangerous and unpredictable than honey bees and should be treated with respect; nests should be eliminated with great care and in a specific manner.
Hornets	Hornets are far more difficult and dangerous to control than paper wasps. The nests resemble a large, inverted tear-drop shaped ball which typically is attached to a tree, bush or side of a building. Hornet nests may contain thousands of wasps which are extremely aggressive when disturbed. The nests are often located out of reach and removal is best accomplished by a professional pest control firm.
Yellow Jackets	Yellow jackets are another dangerous wasp encountered around homes and buildings. Nests are often located underground in an old rodent burrow, beneath a landscape timber, or in a rock wall or wall of a building. Often mistaken for bees, German yellow jackets belong to a group of social wasps that cooperate to build and defend their queen and colony. A German yellow jacket nest starts in spring with a single queen. By September a nest may number 3,000 or more foraging workers. Yellow jackets are aggressive when threatened. Unlike a honeybee, which stings only once, a yellow jacket can sting repeatedly. The sting can be life-threatening to those who are allergic to it. A native of Europe, the German yellow jacket reached Wisconsin in 1979.
Mud Dauber	Mud Dauber wasps are not social wasps like Paper wasps. They are in a different family. Many paralyze spiders to provision mud cells built to enclose eggs, larvae and pupae. The mud cells form long clay tubes or large lumps. The wasps are slender; they are shiny black or brown, orange or yellow, with black markings. Many have long slender thread waists. Like Carpenter bees there is no protective worker caste; these wasps are not aggressive; they will not sting unless pressed or handled. Mud Daubers place their mud nests in protected places like electric motors, sheds, attics, against house siding and under porch ceilings.
Bumble Bee	Bumble bees, as social insects, live in colonies. Each spring a queen that has survived over wintering will find a suitable nesting site and establish her colony. The bumble bee colony grows larger over the summer and is usually discovered while gardening or mowing the lawn. The bumble bees will attack to defend their nest, so they are considered a health concern. Often confused with carpenter bees, bumble bees are characterized by the hairiness of the abdomen (carpenter bees have a smooth abdomen). (Carpenter Bees can be observed around and under eaves, decks, breezeways, etc. They drill holes in the exterior of the wood to lay eggs.)
Carpenter Bee	In the late-spring and early summer, homeowners often notice large, black bees hovering around the outside of their homes. These are probably carpenter bees searching for mates and favorable sites to construct their nests. Male carpenter bees are quite aggressive, often hovering in front of people who are around the nests. The males are quite harmless, however, since they lack stingers. Female carpenter bees can inflict a painful sting but seldom will unless they are handled or molested. Carpenter bees resemble bumble bees, but the upper surface of their abdomen is bare and shiny black; bumble bees have a hairy abdomen with at least some yellow markings.
Mining Bees	Mining bees (or Andrenid bees) resemble the typical honeybee in shape and size. Bodies are colored dark with fine light brown or yellow hairs. Andrenid bees have chewing-lapping mouthparts used to manipulate and collect flower products such as nectar and pollen. The protruding 'lapping' mouthpart is shorter in mining bees than honeybees giving them the common name of short-tongued bees. Unlike honeybees, mining bees are solitary and do not form large, socially organized nests. As their name suggests, mining bees dig single nests in the soil. In spring, adult bees emerge, mate and begin nest preparation. Bees select exposed, well-drained soils to nest in such as banks, hills and road cut-outs. Although the bees are solitary nesters, they often construct nests in large numbers next to one another at a given nesting site. Each female mines out a cylindrical hole to raise offspring. The nest consists of a vertical tunnel and side cells along side the tunnel for hatching eggs. Foraging activity generally lessens during the summer months and the bees become less noticeable. Mature larvae pupate and transform in adults during the late summer. Adults spend the winter inside the burrow and will emerge the following spring to start the whole cycle over. When bees nest together in large numbers, they can be quite ominous, especially during mating and foraging seasons. Mining bees can sting, however they are not easily provoked.
Asian Beetles	Unfortunately, there is no "quick fix" or easy answer to annual lady beetle invasions. Vacuuming, pest proofing and properly timed exterior insecticide treatments can provide relief but will not prevent entry of every single beetle. During late winter or early spring, barrier treatments are ineffective since the beetles gained entry the previous autumn. It is important to consider treatment before this happens. To be effective, barrier treatments should be applied before the beetles enter buildings over winter. In Wisconsin, the proper timing for such treatments is typically late-September thru the end of October although this will vary with seasonal conditions.
Cluster Fly	The cluster fly is a parasite of earthworms and breeds outdoors in lawns and fields during the spring and summer. You can find cluster flies almost everywhere in the United States and Canada, except for the Southern states bordering the Gulf of Mexico. When fall approaches, the cluster flies begin to enter structures in large numbers. Problems with cluster flies begin in late August as they move to winter quarters to over-winter. The cluster fly is seeking warm sites with protective cracks for shelter, crawling back as far as they can get. It is important to consider treatment before this happens. To be effective, barrier treatments should be applied before the flies enter buildings over winter. In Wisconsin, the proper timing for such treatments is typically late-September thru the end of October although this will vary with seasonal conditions.
Box Elder Bugs	They are bright red or black with narrow reddish lines on the back. Box elder bugs feed principally by sucking juices from the Box Elder tree, but are sometimes found on other plants. When Box Elder bugs build up to large populations and invade a home they are usually pests only by their presence, although their piercing-sucking mouthparts can sometimes puncture skin, causing slight irritation. Box Elder bugs do very little damage to the trees they attack, but at certain times of the year they can become a nuisance. Adult Box Elder bugs will enter structures in the fall, seeking winter shelter. Once box elder bugs have become established in the home, there aren't a lot of treatment options. There are not a lot of recommended chemical measures at this point. The easiest way to remove box elder bugs, once they are indoors, is with a vacuum cleaner. It is important to consider treatment before this happens. To be effective, barrier treatments should be applied before the bugs enter buildings over winter. In Wisconsin, the proper timing for such treatments is typically late-September thru the end of October although this will vary with seasonal conditions.

Symptoms of a Bee Allergy

Symptoms of a Bee Allergy Sting reactions, which may increase with succeeding stings, include:

A choking sensation or difficulty in breathing.
A skin rash similar to hives (human hives, not bee hives).
A dry cough, sneezing or asthma.
Lips turning blue.
A rapid pulse and a drop in blood pressure.

More severe reactions may include cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, shock or loss of consciousness. Symptoms usually appear within a few minutes after a sting, but could be delayed up to 24 hours. Stings near the eyes, nose and throat are the most dangerous. For severe reactions, medical assistance should be sought immediately.

When stung by a bee, the stinger should be removed as quickly as possible, but removing it improperly will make the sting worse. The proper way is to scrape the stinger out with a clean fingernail or knife. Pulling or squeezing the stinger will only pump more venom into the wound, as the bee parts containing the venom are left attached to the stinger after the bee tears itself free.

The sting area should be cleaned with soap and water, or with an antiseptic. For people known to have severe reactions who are stung on the arms or legs, a tourniquet may be applied between the wound and the heart to prevent the rapid spread of venom. The tourniquet should be released every three to five minutes until medical help is available.

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