Ouch! What just bit me

Fire ants

Fire ants, bees and wasps are all closely related and sting by injecting venom from the tip of their abdomen. Fire ants, the most common and troublesome ant in the Southeastern U.S., build characteristic mounds that can be problematic for farmers, lawn care professionals and residents alike. When the mound is disturbed, the fire ants respond aggressively and will induce multiple stings. Young children can be particularly susceptible to numerous stings if left unattended in infested areas. Each sting produces a swollen, red area with a blister that heals slowly. The fire ant sting is typically less painful than wasp and bee stings.

Yellow jackets

Yellow jackets, identified by their black and yellow banding, are a common nuisance in late summer. Colonies of these small wasps are initiated by overwintering queens that make paper nests underground and in hollow trees, wall voids and attics. A fully developed nest may contain a few hundred to thousands of adults. Yellow jackets feed on insect pests but are also attracted to food and soft drinks at picnics, camps and garbage sites. Solitary scavenging yellow jackets are usually nonaggressive unless provoked, but yellow jackets become very aggressive as a group if their nest is disturbed. Late summer activities like mowing and brush clearing around property edges can often disturb nests. When a large nest is disturbed, multiple yellow jackets may attach to the intruder's clothing, creating the impression of being chased. The event isn't over until all yellow jackets on your clothing are removed.

Umbrella wasps (paper wasps)

These dusky brown wasps with orange markings construct open paper nests suspended from short stalks resembling umbrellas. Nests are typically built under the eaves of houses, on porches, in attics or amid dense shrubbery. A fertilized overwintering queen makes a new nest each year. These wasps feed on caterpillars and each nest contains up to about 250 wasps. Paper wasps are typically encountered when someone disturbs an unknown nest. If wasps start swarming you, immediately move away from the area and determine their origin. Disturbed wasps will typically stay near their nest. Left undisturbed, these wasps are not typically a problem, however they often establish nests in areas close to our routine activities, increasing the likelihood of negative encounters.

Honey bees

Honey bees were brought to the U.S. from Europe many years ago. Most colonies are managed in manmade hives but escaped swarms sometimes nest in hollow trees, wall voids and attics. Honeybee colonies last several years, with the queen and workers overwintering in the hive. People usually get stung while walking barefoot across a lawn with blooming clover or dandelions or if a bee gets trapped between clothing and skin. Aside from beekeepers, honeybees typically don't cause too much trouble.

Baldfaced hornets

Baldfaced hornets are a type of yellow jacket that builds nests suspended in trees and bushes. The nest looks like a bloated football high off the ground in a tree or bush, usually with a single entrance opening at the lower end of the nest. Left undisturbed, these nests don't cause much of a problem and are an interesting conversation piece when collected after a hard frost.

Bumble bees

Bumble bees are big, buzzing, furry, yellow-and-black bees that produce an excruciating sting. Thankfully, they are very docile unless their nest is disturbed. Unlike carpenter bees, bumble bees have a yellow pubescence on their abdomen. Only fertilized females hibernate during the winter and start new nests in the spring, usually in cavities in the soil previously used by field mice.

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