Comparison between Bees and Wasps
Similarities
|
Characteristics
|
Bees
|
Wasps
|
|
Kingdom
|
Animalia
|
Animalia
|
|
Phylum
|
Arthropoda
|
Arthropoda
|
|
Class
|
Insecta
|
Insecta
|
|
Order
|
Hymenoptera
|
Hymenoptera
|
|
Suborder
|
Apocrita
|
Apocrita
|
|
Morphology
|
Long and fat,
dangling legs, two pairs of wings, often brightly colored.
Narrow junction
between thorax and abdomen.
|
Long and thin,
dangling legs, two pairs of wings, often brightly colored.
Narrow junction
between thorax and abdomen.
|
|
Stinger
|
Backward-pointed
barbs on stinger to penetrate victim
|
Backward-pointed
barbs on stinger to penetrate victim
|
Differences
|
Characteristics
|
Bees
|
Wasps
|
|
Body
|
Hairy body and legs
|
Smooth body and legs
|
|
Legs
|
Flat and wide
|
Round and waxy
|
|
Abdomen & thorax
|
Round
|
Cylindrical
|
|
Hives
|
Geometric wax hives
|
Papery nests
|
|
Colonial or Solitary
|
Colonial
|
Colonial or
solitary, depending on the species
|
|
Food
|
Pollen and nectar
|
Predators or
parasites of other insects, or scavengers
|