The Question: I first noticed in my garage that a lot of small bugs that look like small yellowjackets  were lying around dead around the windows inside the garage. First I thought that the spiders that live there were catching them, but I’ve never seen these yellowjackets in this area before.I don’t know where they might be coming from and why they are congregating to die. Now I’m finding them inside my house. Where might they be coming from and why are they all dead? I’m very happy they are not alive and stinging inside my house, but I would like to know what the situation means. |
The Not So Short Answer: These are almost certainly the Eastern Yellowjacket, Vespula maculifrons, one of our most common yellowjackets, and the smallest yellowjacket (about 0.5 inches, 1.3 cm) in North America. I zoomed in on one part of your photo to show the characteristic shape of the black coloration on the first abdominal segment. According to Sam Droege, a biologist at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, this typically takes a “boat anchor shape” in the Eastern Yellow Jacket. The two other common yellowjackets in Georgia would be the introduced German Yellowjacket (Vespula germanica – also called German wasp), which is slightly larger and has more of a diamond shape on the first abdominal segment, and the Southern Yellowjacket (Vespula squamosa), which usually has a connecting line in the first abdominal segment, and has two lengthwise yellow stripes on the th
orax.
As to why you have Eastern yellowjackets in your garage, that’s something of a puzzle. Y
ellowjacket colonies die out each year, with only newly mated queens living over the winter. But September is a little early for a colony in Georgia to be calling it quits for the season. Some yellowjacket species nest readily in houses and garages, but the Eastern Yellowjacket generally doesn’t. They build paper nests in holes excavated underground. Mr. Droege wonders if you have a nest right near your house or garage. “This time of year, the colonies are at their peak but may be running low on available food. They may simply be moving into the house and garage while searching for yummy things (likely there is something that smells attractive in both places). They then get disoriented and end up trying to get out near the window.
“Inside they won’t sting unless you accidentally sit on one…which can happen as they become weak and may end up crawling on the floor or on a chair or bed. Best bet is to go out in late afternoon when there is a strong sun and take a stroll around the yard. There should be a parade of yellowjackets going in and out of the nest and the light at that time of day makes them stand out. If you feel you need to get rid of the colony, fill a gallon jug with water add a large amount of dishwashing soap, go out at night, dump it down the hole, put a rock on top and that should do it. No need for dumping gasoline or poison down the hole during the day, which often just ends up with people getting stung.”
Given gasoline’s potential as a groundwater pollutant, it should never be dumped in the ground, and if you are allergic to bee stings, you should hire a professional to remove the colony, of course, but otherwise, you might just enjoy watching the yellowjackets coming and going, knowing that their days are numbered. And they don’t generally nest in the same place the next year, so whether you destroy the nest or not, they’ll be gone soon. (Although apparently, Southern Yellowjacket queens will sometimes take over an empty Eastern Yellowjacket nest.)
More Information: This question spurred me to look up something I’ve always wondered about: how to tell a bee from a wasp and how to tell a wasp from a hornet. So here’s the story:
Bees – generally plump and furry looking. Their legs usually don’t show when they’re flying. Examples are the familiar honeybees and bumblebees. Their food is nectar from flowers.
Wasps – generally thinner, without the furry look. Usually have two legs dangling when flying. Examples include yellowjackets and paper wasps. Most wasps are predatory or parasitic. Yellowjackets also go for fruit and human food, especially sugary drinks and meat.
Hornets – some species of wasps, usually fairly large ones, are called hornets. Examples include Bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata – white and black) and the European hornet (Vespa crabro).
The Interesting Science: What do ants have to do with wasps? Well, funny you should ask, because ants are really a type of wasp. As the phylogeny (evolutionary history) below shows, the insect order Hymenoptera includes two Suborders, the Symphyta (sawflies) and the Apocrita (wasps). Within the Apocrita, there are the Parasitica, which includes a vast number of parasitic wasps, and the group of more interest to us right now, the Aculeata. If we go further into the Aculeata we find the Superfamily Apoidea (which includes the familiar honeybee, bumblebee and various bee-like wasps), the Superfamily Chrysidoidea (other wasps), and the Vespoidea. The Vespoidea includes the Family Vespidae, in which we find yellowjackets, paper wasps, and some other common wasps. And also within the Vespoidea is a very important family, the Formicidae – the ants.
So, nested down inside the evolutionary tree of wasps we find all the many species of ants. Traditionally, “wasp” has referred to any member of the Apocrita that is not a bee or an ant. So ants have not been considered to be wasps. That is largely because the original traditions of naming and categorizing animals were not based on evolutionary history (which was unknown at the time). More current conventions try to take evolutionary history into account. You may have heard people say, for example, that dinosaurs are not extinct because birds are really dinosaurs. That’s because if you look at the evolutionary tree of birds, you find that they are nested inside the evolutionary tree of dinosaurs – just the same way that ants are nested within the evolutionary tree of wasps.
Under a system of naming that takes evolutionary history into account, ants would be a variety of wasp – a very successful offshoot of the Vespoidea wasp lineage that includes those yellowjackets.
Thanks: My thanks to Sam Droege for his generous help. Mr. Droege is a researcher at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Station, operated by the United States Geological Survey, which despite the “Geological” in its name, is the federal government’s primary agency for wildlife research.
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12 Responses
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Mike Says:
Interesting, I live in Black Mountain, NC and I’m seeing the same problem right now. We’re getting a ton of these suckers stuck in the house each day. I’m not sure where they’re coming from, but they end up dead around various windows around the house. I’d say I find 2 or 3 of these guys a day. When we do see them alive in the house, they seem rather lethargic and occasionally we see them buzzing around the recessed lighting.
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Tom Says:
Hi,
Have you had a chance to look at them and figure out if they are one of the species I talked about?Tom
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Manuel Says:
I’m glad that I’m not the only one to see this phenomena. I’ve never seen this before. Like Mike says. When we see them alive they seem lethargic (which is good), anyway, I’m more concerned with finding out where they are coming from. BTW, I lived in Fletcher and Mills River, NC before and never saw this there either.
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Christine Says:
I’ve been having this same problem for about 3 years now. The first year, I found about 15 dead yellow jackets on the living room floor in one day. I’d find numerous ones about every other day for a few weeks. Now, it’s not so bad. About 5 total in one week. The first year I had an exterminator come by and he couldn’t figure out why they’re dead inside. He did remove a few nests from the eves of the house. He said there’s probably some nests inside the walls but I don’t want to rip open the walls because I don’t know exactly where they are. Any advice would help. I’m just thankful they’re not flying inside the house and stinging anyone.
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Tom Says:
Christine,
Can you take a close-up picture of the dead yellow jackets? It would help if we knew the species because some are known to nest in walls and some rarely do. What state are you in? -
Wendy Says:
Raleigh, NC
I am seeing many yellowjackets in my bedroom this month of December and cannot find where they are coming from. Some are dead and some are lethargic and I am thinking about calling an exterminator, although I have been reading that they won’t live over the winter. It may not freeze here so I am worried that they may live through the winter and be more prevalant in the spring. I am also wondering if they bore through the siding and into the interior walls. -
Michele Says:
Hi there. I also encountered a yellow jacket that i witnessed come out of my recessed light in my bathroom the other week! in the beginning of March… could there be a nest in my attic or a straggler that may have survived the cold winter in the attic above the recessed lighting.. i have no idea where this wasp could have come from since it is still pretty cold here in NY…any help would be appreciated.
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Tom Says:
Michele,
Have you seen any more? Are you pretty sure the one you saw was a yellow jacket? What state do you live in? -
Jana Says:
Hi,we liven in a condo and have yellow jackets in our bedroom.we have everything sealed,new windows and yet,they are still coming inside 3-5 a day. We have no idea where are they coming from.no halls no cracks.they are only in this room. What can I do??? Please, let me know.
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Tom Says:
Jz61, I don’t have an answer for you. If they are continuing to come in and they are bothering you, your best bet might be to call an exterminator. Sorry I can’t be over more help.
Tom
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Jack Says:
I’m pleased to have found this thread but it didn’t answer my concern. About two weeks ago, ALL of the paper wasps around my house abandoned their nests and vanished. The nest in my unused newspaper box, the numerous nests hanging from the eves of my house and even the nests in my unused storage building. All abruptly abandoned in mid August.
Perhaps there is a spraying program for mosquitoes that is killing them but if so, it isn’t public knowledge. Hopefully, it is a local issue and not something that needs immediate study but feeling that I should report this someplace, this seems like a good place to start.
I live inside the city limits and am located in the north east corner of Tennessee. I’m still seeing yellow jackets eating my fallen pears and apples but the number of wasps and bees seems to have dropped substantially.
Is there a reasonable and natural explanation for this or have I observed the beginning of something that deserves attention ?
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Justin Goldsworhty Says:
Hi,Im having the exact same problem as finding the wasps,maybe one or two of them dying daily on my bathroom windowsill(never downstairs).I’m thinking then that there maybe a nest near the guttering.also I’m from Cardiff in south wales in the u.k and our wasps look exactly like your ones.