Red Wasps vs. Yellowjackets: Oklahoma Wasp & Bee ID Guide

Red wasps and yellowjackets are both stinging wasps, but they look, nest and behave differently. A red wasp is a slender, reddish-brown paper wasp with dark wings that builds an open, umbrella-shaped comb under eaves and porch ceilings. A yellowjacket is smaller and stockier, banded bright black and yellow, and usually nests out of sight in the ground or inside a wall. Yellowjackets live in much bigger colonies and defend them harder. This guide covers both, plus the hornets, solitary wasps and bees Oklahomans run into, so you can tell what you are looking at and how careful you need to be.

Red wasp vs. yellowjacket at a glance

	Red wasp	Yellowjacket
Color	Reddish-brown all over, smoky dark wings	Bright black and yellow bands
Body	Slender, narrow waist, long legs that dangle in flight	Stocky, barely visible waist, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch
Nest	One open paper comb hanging from a short stalk	Several combs inside a paper envelope, usually underground or in a wall
Colony size	About 20 to 75 adults	About 1,000 to 5,000 adults
Behavior	Calm away from the nest; defends the comb	Guards the entrance; vibration, mowing or trimming nearby sets off attacks
Food	Hunts caterpillars and other insects	Hunts insects, then scavenges sweets, meat and trash in late summer and fall
Peak season	Summer	Fall, active until about early December

Colony sizes and behavior are from Oklahoma State University Extension. Both kinds keep their stinger and can sting more than once, and in both only the mated females survive winter to start new nests in spring.

Bee, wasp or hornet?

All three can sting, but they are easy to separate once you look at the body:

• Bees are round and fuzzy. Honey bees are reddish-brown with dark bands and hair even on their eyes; bumble bees are large, round and covered in yellow and black hair. A honey bee stinger is barbed, so a honey bee stings once and dies.
• Wasps are smooth and shiny with a pinched waist. Paper wasps have a very thin waist and long legs; yellowjackets are short and stocky. Wasps can sting repeatedly.
• Hornets are wasps. The European hornet is the only true hornet in North America; the bald-faced hornet is a large black-and-white yellowjacket relative.

Flower flies (syrphid flies) look like small bees but have only two wings and cannot sting, according to OSU Extension.

Which Oklahoma wasps and bees sting?

Insect	Looks like	Nest	Sting risk
Red wasp	Reddish-brown, slender	Open comb under eaves	Moderate, near the nest
Other paper wasps	Brown, red or black with yellow	Open comb	Moderate, near the nest
Yellowjackets	Black and yellow, stocky	Ground, wall void, attic	High
Bald-faced hornet	Black and white	Gray paper ball in trees or on buildings	High
European hornet	Large, brown and yellow	Hollow trees, wall voids	Moderate to high near the nest
Mud daubers	Thread waist; black and yellow or metallic blue	Mud tubes	Very low
Potter wasps	Black with white, yellow or orange marks	Tiny clay pots	Very low
Cicada killers	Very large, black with yellow	Burrows in lawns and beds	Low (only if handled)
Cow killer (velvet ant)	Fuzzy red and black, wingless	None (lives alone)	Low, but very painful
Honey bees	Fuzzy, reddish-brown with bands	Wax comb in a cavity	Low; high near a colony
Bumble bees	Large, fuzzy, yellow and black	Cavities, often underground	Low
Carpenter bees	Like a bumble bee with a shiny black rear	Round holes in wood	Very low

Social wasps: the ones that defend a nest

Red wasp

The red wasp (Polistes carolina and its close relative P. rubiginosus) is reddish-brown all over with smoky dark wings, about 3/4 to 1 inch long. It is a paper wasp: the nest is a single comb of paper, made from chewed wood mixed with saliva, hanging from a short stalk. Look for it under eaves, porch ceilings, carports, deck rails, shutters and playground equipment. Red wasps hunt caterpillars to feed their young, which makes them useful in a garden, but they will defend the nest if you get close. A few weeks into summer a nest can hold dozens of wasps.

Searching for a "mahogany wasp"? That is not a formal species name. People use it for dark reddish-brown paper wasps, which in Oklahoma are usually red wasps or a related Polistes species. Treat them the same way.

Other paper wasps

Oklahoma has several other paper wasps (Polistes). They can be brown, black or red with yellow markings, and all share the long legs, thin waist and open comb with visible cells. OSU Extension puts a typical colony at 20 to 75 adults on a nest 3 to 10 inches across. In fall, paper wasps gather around tall buildings, towers and treetops to mate. Most of those wasps are males, which cannot sting. The mated females then look for a sheltered spot to spend the winter, which is why paper wasps turn up at windows and in attics on warm winter days.

Yellowjackets

The two yellowjackets OSU lists for Oklahoma are the southern yellowjacket (Vespula squamosa) and the eastern yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons). Both are about 1/2 to 3/4 inch, stockier than paper wasps, with bright yellow and black bands and very little hair. They nest mostly underground, often in an old rodent burrow, but also in wall voids, attics and hollow logs. You usually see only a hole with wasps flying in and out.

Yellowjackets are the wasp to take most seriously. Their colonies are large, guards watch the entrance, and mowing, string trimming or even walking over the nest can trigger a mass attack. They stay active into late fall, when colonies are biggest and the workers turn to scavenging sweets, meat and trash, so late-summer cookouts are when most people meet them.

A "red yellowjacket" is usually one of two other insects: a red wasp, or a European hornet, which is red and brown in front with a mostly yellow abdomen.

Bald-faced hornet

The bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) is black with white markings, including a white face. It is a yellowjacket relative, not a true hornet. It builds a gray paper nest, often a foot or more across, in trees, shrubs, on utility poles or on the side of a building. OSU puts colonies at 200 to 700 adults. They defend the nest aggressively, so leave aerial nests near doors, decks and play areas to a professional.

European hornet

The European hornet (Vespa crabro) is the only true hornet established in North America, and OSU reports it in northeastern Oklahoma. It is big, about an inch long, with a red and yellow head, a red-brown thorax and a mostly yellow abdomen marked with brown. It nests in hollow trees and sometimes in wall voids. Penn State Extension notes two habits that set it apart: it flies at night and comes to porch lights, and in fall it strips bark from lilacs and other shrubs to feed on sap.

Asian giant hornet ("murder hornet")

Not in Oklahoma. OSU Extension reports that none have been detected here and that the species is unlikely to establish. The large wasps that get reported as murder hornets are almost always cicada killers or European hornets.

Solitary wasps: big, scary-looking and rarely a problem

Most wasps live alone. Each female builds and stocks her own nest, uses her venom to paralyze prey, and has no colony to defend. OSU Extension calls them a rare stinging hazard.

Mud daubers

Mud daubers have a waist as thin as a thread. In Oklahoma they are black and yellow or metallic blue-black. They build tubes or clumps of mud on walls, ceilings, porches, attics and carports and pack them with paralyzed spiders. You often see them collecting mud at puddles, faucets and watered lawns. OSU says they do not attack people. If the mud bothers you, scrape it off; no insecticide is needed. They sometimes plug openings in outdoor equipment.

Potter wasps

Potter (mason) wasps are medium-sized, black with white, yellow, orange or red markings, and build tiny clay pots, usually on twigs and sometimes under eaves. They stock the pots with caterpillars. They are not defensive.

Cicada killers

The cicada killer is the giant of Oklahoma wasps: about 1 1/2 inches long, black with yellow markings. In mid-summer the females dig burrows about 1/2 inch wide in lawns, flower beds and sandy soil, often with a mound of dirt at the entrance, and drag paralyzed cicadas inside. Several dozen burrows can cluster in one yard. The males patrol the area and dive at people, but they cannot sting. Females sting only if handled or stepped on barefoot.

Spider wasps and tarantula hawks

These are large (1 to 2 1/2 inches), shiny blue-black wasps, sometimes with orange wings or antennae, that fly low over the ground hunting spiders. They are not aggressive, though a barefoot child who steps on one can be stung.

Cow killer (red velvet ant)

The cow killer is not an ant. It is a wasp (family Mutillidae), and the fuzzy red-and-black insect running across bare ground in summer is a wingless female. Males have wings and look more like ordinary wasps. The name comes from the sting, which Texas A&M describes as usually much more painful than a bee sting; it cannot kill a cow. Females lay their eggs in the nests of ground-nesting bees and wasps, where the young feed on the host. They live alone, squeak when disturbed, and are hard to crush. There is no practical way to control them. Wear shoes in sandy, open areas and teach children not to pick them up. Treat a sting like a bee sting and get medical help for a rash that spreads or trouble breathing.

Bees

Honey bees

Honey bees are reddish-brown with black bands and covered in short hair. They rarely bother people at flowers or picnics. A honey bee stinger is barbed and stays in the skin, so scrape it out quickly; the faster it comes out, the less venom goes in. Honey bees are protected and valuable, so a swarm hanging on a branch or a colony in a wall calls for a beekeeper or bee removal specialist, not a can of spray.

Africanized honey bees are in Oklahoma. OSU Extension reports DNA-confirmed populations in 43 counties. They look like ordinary honey bees but defend a larger area around the nest and nest in small spaces such as meter boxes, junk piles, tires, flower pots and eaves. Never try to remove a bee colony yourself. If bees attack, run, get inside a building or car, and do not jump into water.

Bumble bees

Bumble bees are large, round and fuzzy, with yellow and black hair. They nest in existing cavities, often underground. They are gentle at flowers, but females can sting more than once if the nest is disturbed.

Carpenter bees

Carpenter bees look like bumble bees with a shiny, hairless black abdomen. They bore perfectly round holes about the width of a finger into unpainted wood (decks, fascia, eaves, fences), often with coarse sawdust below. The males that hover in your face cannot sting; females rarely do. Painting bare wood is the best prevention, according to the University of Kentucky.

Identify it by the nest

What you see	Who made it
Open, upside-down umbrella of paper cells under an eave	Paper wasps, including red wasps
Gray paper ball in a tree, shrub or on the house	Bald-faced hornets
Hole in the lawn or wall with wasps streaming in and out	Yellowjackets
Several 1/2-inch holes with dirt mounds in a sunny bed	Cicada killers
Mud tubes or lumps on a wall or ceiling	Mud daubers
Tiny clay jugs on twigs	Potter wasps
Round, finger-wide holes in wood with sawdust below	Carpenter bees
Wax comb in a tree hollow, wall or meter box	Honey bees

Identify it by color

Color	Most likely
All red or reddish-brown	Red wasp
Black and yellow, stocky	Yellowjacket
Black and yellow, slender with long legs	Paper wasp or mud dauber
Black and white	Bald-faced hornet
Brown and yellow, very large	European hornet
Black with yellow, huge	Cicada killer
Shiny black or metallic blue	Mud dauber or spider wasp
Fuzzy red and black, no wings	Cow killer (velvet ant)
Fuzzy, yellow and black	Bumble bee or carpenter bee

When a wasp nest needs to go

OSU Extension calls wasps beneficial because many of them hunt caterpillars and other pests. A paper wasp nest in a far corner of the yard can be left alone. Remove a nest when it is by a door, deck, play area or walkway, when someone in the home is allergic to stings, when it is a yellowjacket or hornet nest anywhere people walk or mow, or when wasps are coming out of a wall or attic. Our wasp control guide explains how to deal with each kind safely. If you are stung, see what to do after a wasp sting. To tell a queen from a worker, see queen vs. worker wasps. For other stinging and biting pests, see the Oklahoma ant ID guide and our pest guides.

Wasp exterminator in Tulsa and Oklahoma City

Not sure what is building under your eaves, or found a hole in the yard with wasps pouring out of it? Emtec Pest Control has been Oklahoma's wasp exterminator since 1979. Our technicians identify the wasp, find and treat the nest, including nests in walls and attics, and treat the eaves, soffits and porches where wasps like to build. We serve Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Owasso, Jenks, Bixby, Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Stillwater, Oklahoma City, Edmond and nearby towns. Learn about our preventative pest control or contact us.