365 Urban Species. #258: Bumblebee. #259: White-faced Hornet.

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Photo by cottonmanifesto. Location: Olmsted Park, Boston.
Urban species #258: Bumblebee Bombus pennsylvanicus

Until this year, I assumed I was seeing bumblebees almost every warm day of every year, and then I discovered I was actually seeing carpenter bees. One easy way to tell the difference is that the bumblebees have furry abdomens while carpenter bees have shiny black hairless abdomen. Bumblebees are familiar, almost friendly-seeming, with their thick fur and clumsy way about them. Their yellow and black markings, like those of many other stinging insects, are meant to warn predators. Stinging hymenopterans (that is, members of the order of insects that includes bees, wasps, ants, and others) are armed with venom-injecting weapon derived from their ovipositor. This means that only females can sting. Bumblebees are considered unaggressive and unlikely to sting. Like their close relatives, the honeybees, bumblebees are social, a hive of up to 300 individuals and their mother, the queen, working cooperatively to raise the next generation. Unlike honeybees, bumblebee colonies do not overwinter; only the queen (or her successor) survives. Bumblebees are highly valued as pollinators, with some plant nurseries and farms purchasing hives for this purpose; their small untidy combs not producing enough honey to make collecting it very rewarding.


Photo by cottonmanifesto. Location: our front step.

Urban species #259: White-faced hornet Dolichovespula maculata

Even this entomophile shudders a little bit at the sight of a swarm of white-faced hornets (also called "bald-faced hornets"). These wasps are very aggressive, and deliver a painful sting. Their large gray paper nests are often attached to buildings, although they also can be found in trees. Each nest, which can be a foot in diameter or more, is made of several layers of chewed wood, and contains between dozens and hundreds of individuals. The larva are fed flower nectar, and the bodies of other insects that the adults have killed and chewed into bits. White-faced hornets are ambitious predators, even attacking large and dangerous prey like their close relatives, the yellowjackets. Despite the danger of their sting, these insects are beneficial, preying on pests, and acting as pollinators. White-faced hornets are found across North America, except for the dry interior plains, and are common in urban parks and suburban neighborhoods.