Externally, bees and wasps are very similar to each other, it is quite easy to confuse them. But in reality, the differences between these insects are much more than similarities.
Both bees and wasps belong to the suborder lancet, which is part of the Hymenoptera. The closest "relatives" of these insects are ants.
Wasps are a less specific concept. This is the name of all the stinging representatives of the lancet-bellied suborder, which do not have signs that allow them to be attributed to the number of ants or bees.
Some entomologists view bees as a specialized form of wasp that evolved over time.
Lifestyle
Bees and wasps differ from each other even in appearance. A bee has a rounded body; a wasp has an elongated body, stretched over the chest. The color of both bees and wasps has the appearance of alternating yellow and black stripes, but the black stripes are brighter in the wasp than in the bee.
The species of wasps and bees are subdivided into solitary and public. In the first case, all adults are capable of reproduction. In social insects, only male adults and the uterus are capable of reproduction, and the rest of the "family" is sterile females.
However, there is a significant difference between social bees and social wasps. When winter comes, workers create comfortable conditions for the queen bee. Public wasps do not do this, the queen hibernates alone.
In summer, adult bees feed on nectar, which is collected from flowers, and for winter nutrition, they “preserve” it in a honeycomb in a special way, resulting in honey. To feed the larvae, bees use a specially processed pollen - bee bread. Honeycombs, in which honey is ripened and stored, are made by bees from wax secreted by their body. To fill up the cracks and disinfect the eggs, bees secrete another substance - propolis.
The diet of wasps is more varied. They feed not only on nectar, but also on fruits and small insects. They produce the material for building a nest by chewing wood fibers, which turns out to be something like paper.
Bees, wasps and man
Honey bees have been used by humans for many centuries to obtain honey and wax. Other beekeeping products - bee bread and propolis - are used in medicine. In addition, bees play an important role in agriculture by pollinating plants.
Unlike bees, wasps do not produce any substances that humans can use. Wasps harm fruit plants such as plums, grapes, pears, and apple trees. Making holes in the skin of the fruit, they eat away the pulp, and the remaining holes attract slugs and other pests.
Wasps and bees also differ in the degree of danger to humans. Bees sting a person only if he himself shows aggression, for example, waving his hands at the sight of a bee. Wasps are more aggressive: to provoke their attack, it is enough to be near the nest. A bee, having bitten a person, loses its sting and dies, this does not happen with a wasp. When bitten, a wasp uses not only a sting, but also a jaw apparatus. The first thing to do with a bee sting is to remove the sting with nails or tweezers, with a wasp sting this is not necessary.
