Have you ever been walking in your backyard and all of a sudden been swarmed by bees? Maybe you were mowing the lawn and hit a ground nest, which caused the bees to charge you and sting you several times. Bees love to build nests in the ground.
Aggressive ground bees are problematic in the warmer months, as they’re territorial. It’s important to know that honeybees will never build a nest on the ground. Instead, they like to live in hives. Ground bees look for places to build their colonies, like old rodent burrows, the inside of a tree or log, and piles of trash.
It’s one of the reasons why it’s so challenging to find them when gardening or mowing. Kids are often unwitting victims of these bees because they are too busy having fun to notice what’s going on around them. It may look like a fun place to play to find a pile of leaves or other trash, but it can be very dangerous.
A buzzing swarm circling your ankles or erupting from the lawn can be a terrifying experience. But not all ground-dwelling bees pose the same threat. While some species tend to mind their own business, others will aggressively defend their subterranean nests.
Knowing which types of bees live in the ground, and their typical temperaments allows you to respond appropriately. Forewarned is forearmed when it comes to avoiding unwanted bee stings.
Why Do Some Bees Nest Underground?
Bees are incredibly diverse, with over 20,000 species worldwide. About 70% of them nest in tunnels or cavities dug into the soil. Abandoned rodent burrows also provide ready-made nesting sites
The main benefit of underground nests is temperature regulation. Being below the surface helps keep bee larvae and pupae warm in cold conditions and cool when it’s hot outside. The nests also have some protection from predators and elements like wind or rain.
Solitary ground-nesting bee females each make their own individual nests. Social bees, like bumblebees, form communal colonies with worker and drone bees caring cooperatively for the young.
Aggressive Bees – Don’t Disturb Their Nests
In general, bees foraging for nectar and pollen away from their nests don’t bother humans much. But provoking bees at or near underground nests often triggers aggressive defensive behavior.
Disturbed ground bees swarm out to investigate and drive away perceived threats. Some species viciously sting any intruders repeatedly.
Heed these tips to avoid riling up angry ground bees:
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Watch your step in areas where you see bees flying in and out of holes.
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Don’t swat at, squash, or otherwise harass the bees.
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If bees seem agitated, walk calmly away to a safe distance.
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Keep children and pets away from nesting locations.
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Fill in holes or cover areas where bees are nesting, if necessary.
Now let’s look at some of the most notoriously aggressive bees you may encounter around underground nests.
Yellowjackets
Yellowjackets are social wasps that often nest underground in cavities or abandoned rodent burrows. Their nests contain up to several thousand individuals by late summer.
When disturbed, yellowjackets violently defend the entrance to their nest. They have painful stings and aggressively swarm any threats repeatedly stinging the victim.
Signs of underground yellowjacket nests include:
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Buzzing in lawn holes or around structures
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Multiple yellowjackets hovering around one area
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Getting stung after stepping on or near a certain spot
Leave nest areas immediately if yellowjackets turn hostile. Call a professional exterminator to treat unwanted nests.
Africanized Honey Bees
Africanized honey bees, also called “killer bees”, are a hybrid originally bred from African and European honey bee subspecies. They arrived in the Americas in the 1950s and spread northward.
These bees are very defensive, swarming in great numbers and stinging relentlessly when disturbed. Their venom is no more potent than other honey bees, but the number of stings can kill humans and animals.
Africanized bees often nest in ground cavities or abandoned rodent burrows. Watch for bees entering and leaving a single hole. Get away quickly if they become aggressive and call for professional removal.
Bumblebees
Bumblebees are familiar fuzzy insects that nest in small colonies underground. Queen bumblebees overwinter in the soil, emerging in spring to start a new nest.
Bumblebees don’t tend to sting unless directly threatened near the nest. But provoking one will draw the attention of the rest of the colony.
While a single bumblebee sting is not very serious, mass stinging by the colony can be dangerous. Give bumblebees space around their nesting area.
Miner Bees
[Andrena mining bee]
There are around 1,700 species of ground-nesting miner bees. The female bees dig individual nest tunnels, typically in sandy soil. They aren’t very aggressive away from the nest.
But don’t step on their nest holes or you may disturb a female miner bee, prompting her to sting. The bees also vigilantly guard the nest from predators.
Sweat Bees
Sweat bees get their common name from their attraction to human perspiration. But they also drink nectar and live underground.
Most sweat bees are non-aggressive and rarely sting unless threatened. But provoking a nest could draw a defensive swarm.
Cuckoo Bees
Cuckoo bees, like the yellow-legged nomad bee, are parasites. They don’t build their own nests, instead laying eggs in other bees’ underground nests.
When a host bee detects a cuckoo bee invader, it may elicit an aggressive swarm response from the nest residents. Give nest entrances a wide berth.
How to Avoid Conflict with Ground Bees
Living safely alongside ground-nesting bees is mostly a matter of mutual respect and distance. Follow these tips to prevent conflicts:
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Watch for bee activity and nest holes. Avoid disturbing these areas.
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Cover exposed skin and wear shoes outside.
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Remain calm and move slowly if you encounter angry bees.
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Fill in nest holes or install screens to discourage bees in problematic areas.
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Only have nests removed by a professional exterminator.
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Plant bee-friendly flowers away from high-traffic areas.
With proper precautions, we can appreciate the important ecological roles of ground bees in pollination and the food chain. A little understanding goes a long way to avoid getting stung.
5 Types of Common Aggressive Ground Bees
In New Jersey, five types of bees typically build a nest in the ground. Each bee is unique, and some aren’t really bees at all. Here is how to identify these aggressive stingers and some information on their habits.
Yellow jackets are abundant in the Garden State. While they’re often called bees, this aggressive insect is a wasp. It belongs to the Vespidae family, which is technically called the genus Vespula.
Yellow jackets are easy to recognize by their distinctive black and yellow striped bodies. They are smaller and smoother than bees. Their bodies are smooth and have less noticeable hair. When they rest, their wings fold inward and are clear. They have big black eyes that look right at you.
The colony of yellow jackets is highly organized. To start a new colony in the spring, all they need is one queen who can make it through the winter. The queen lays eggs that develop into workers. She can lay anywhere from 200-300 eggs daily, up to 2,000 in her lifetime.
A mature nest will have 1,000 to 4,000 workers, but some are as large as 10,000. The workers take over foraging, nest building, and caring for the queen’s new offspring. Toward the end of the season, the colony produces new queens and males.
The males mate with the new queens, who find a place to hibernate over the winter. The entire cycle starts again the following year. The rest of the colony, including the original queen, dies off with the first frost.
It’s important to teach your children how to recognize yellow jackets and to understand their aggressive behavior. Instead of going near a nest in your yard, it’s safer to call a professional to get rid of it.
Yellow jackets are known for their aggressive nature. They will attack you and can sting multiple times unlike most bees. They will defend themselves and their families with all their might, especially if you come near their nests.
Bumblebees have an essential job in the ecosystem. They look cute and cuddly but play a critical role in keeping flowers blooming and crops thriving. Have you ever wondered why they seem so busy? It’s because they’re outstanding workers.
Bumblebees are typically larger and fuzzier than other bees, with distinctive black and yellow bands around their bodies. They’re covered in soft hair, which makes them look fuzzy. There is no denying that these bees make a loud buzzing sound when they fly. They are big and strong.
The queen is the largest in the bumble family and can be 17 to 25 mm long. They can be as small as 8 to 18 mm, making them the smallest in the nest.
Bumblebees prefer to use preexisting hollow spaces close to the ground. Their nests are much smaller and less organized than the colonies of honeybees or wasps. A bumblebee nest usually only has a few hundred bees, as they prefer to keep things smaller. The nests are made of a mix of wax and plant materials.
The queen hibernates during the winter and awakens in the spring, ready to get busy. She starts laying eggs almost immediately and can lay a few dozen daily. It’s not uncommon for the queen to lay around 2,000 eggs in her lifetime.
The first offspring have an essential role in the hive. The workers will take on all duties so the queen can focus on egg-laying.
The queen will stop making workers at the end of the summer and start making drones and new queens instead. She’s setting up the hive for the following season. The drones will leave the nest to find queens to mate with and form new colonies.
The queens will do what the last queen did and find a place to sleep until the next year, when they have to do their important job. Only the queen can live for a year. The other bees in the hive only live for a few weeks to two months.
Bumblebees are not known to be aggressive but will sting to defend their nests. Their stingers are not barbed, so they can sting as many times as necessary. Climate change, pesticide use, habitat loss, and disease have all led to a drop in the number of bumblebees. Many conservation efforts are in place to help protect these vital pollinators.
Sweat Bees
If you’ve ever noticed tiny bees more interested in your sweat than your garden, you’ve encountered sweat bees. These little pollinators love perspiration. While they love the salt from your sweat, they also have an essential role in pollination that can’t be ignored.
Sweat bees come in all shapes and colors but are easy to spot due to their iridescent hues. They can be green, blue, or even a bronze-like color. However, you can’t rule out that you might run across some that are brown or black, either.
These are smaller bees, ranging from 4 to 15 mm. They don’t have hair like honeybees, and their bodies are very slender.
For their nests, sweat bees like soil with few plants, but some species will also look for rotting wood. They like being close to the ground and digging tunnels. For each egg, they make its own cell. It’s not uncommon for these nests to be found in clusters.
It’s interesting that sweat bees are very social and like clear colony structures, but other species in the same group like to borrow queens. While in the loaner’s nest, the female builds her own nest and doesn’t ask other bees for help.
The social species divides the labor. One queen does the egg-laying and only lays a few a day. Then, there are worker bees who have the vital job of maintaining the nest. They look for food for the rest of their colony.
The lifespan of sweat bees varies by species, and over 1,000 species have been identified. Queens can live up to a year, which includes their time spent sleeping. Workers can only live a few weeks to a few months.
The salt in your body provides nutritional value to these bees. Sweat bees are not known to be aggressive but will become hostile to protect their hive. Their sting is mild compared to other bees and wasps, so it won’t hurt as much if you get stung by one.
Despite their small size and pesky behavior, sweat bees are valuable pollinators contributing to many plant species.
The cicada killer wasp is so large it will make you do a double-take. These critters are more interested in hunting cicadas than stinging humans, but when you interrupt their hive, it’s a whole different ballgame.
These solitary giants come around in mid-summer and are often mistaken for a hornet. But while their name suggests otherwise, these bees are not as aggressive as the hornet.
The cicada killer wasp measures anywhere from 1. 5-2 inches in length. Their body is black and has yellow markings on their abdomen, so they’re often confused with yellow jackets. They are by far one of the largest wasps in North America.
Cicada wasps like to nest in the ground. They prefer sandy, well-drained soil over wet soil. They love to look for bare patches in lawns and gardens. Remember to be careful around driveways and sidewalks too, as they can use the sandy dirt from those places.
Cicada killer wasps are solitary insects, as the females care for the nest alone. They don’t have a colony, so she must dig a burrow for her eggs. She will go up to 10 inches deep, and it can be several feet wide. Within the nest are chambers. These chambers will be used to house a single egg.
Once she mates, she looks for cicadas to sting and paralyze. They will help her feed her young when they hatch, so she drags them back to the chambers and lays an egg on them. During the summer, these wasps can be seen, and their presence usually means that cicadas are in season.
These wasps help control cicada populations, which makes them a helper in keeping ecological balance. Many fear these wasps but don’t understand or appreciate their unique role in nature. Despite their frightening appearance, they are fascinating creatures.
How To Get Rid Of Yellow Jacket / Ground Wasp Nest With ONE STEP!
FAQ
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