Bees and wasps, one would think, have a lot in common - especially in appearance. However, their reputation varies among us - especially in times when bee protection is so highly valued, one can wonder whether the related insects actually have a good relationship.
How well do bees and wasps get along?
Bees and wasps don't always get along, as carnivorous wasp species sometimes attack bees. However, bees are defensive and can defend themselves effectively, so their population is not endangered.
What is a bee, what is a wasp?
The differentiation between bees and wasps is not quite as banal as you might think. These are not two clearly separated genera within a specific insect family. Bees, on the other hand, are rather a kind of spin-off from the large insect group of wasps - they apparently evolved by chance from the group of digger wasps. In any case, bees as well as all species of wasps are classified in the order Hymenoptera and belong to the suborder of wasps.
But what exactly makes bees special among wasps? Here are the most important differences:
- Appearance: Bees do not have a typical wasp waist, are hairier
- Bees (including the larvae) eat a purely vegetarian diet
- Bees produce honey
- Bees can only sting once in their lives
War and peace between wasps and bees
In nature, every animal species has to watch how it survives. There is no room here for emotional friendships - at best for lucrative business relationships in which one person benefits from the other in the sense of a win-win situation. Otherwise, everyone would do well to view other species with self-preserving skepticism.
Attack and sometimes cruel defensive behaviors have also been observed between some species of wasps and bees. As vegetarians, bees are usually the victims of carnivorous wasps. However, bees are by no means helpless - wasps have a strong offensive character, but bees are good at defense.
Some species of hornets (which are wasps) are honey robbers and invade bee nests to plunder. As a defense strategy, the bees have developed an encirclement method that suffocates the hornet.
Bees themselves sometimes find their way onto the menu, especially for hornets, the largest species of wasp living in Central Europe. As insect hunters, they also generally eat related Hymenoptera. However, this is not a danger to the existence of bee colonies, because bees are too defensive to be able to make up a significant part of their prey. 90% of hornets' meat diet is still fly species.
