Photos: Bees, Hornets, Wasps (plus some Sawflies) - Home and Garden IPM from Cooperative Extension - University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Photo Gallery: Bees, Hornets and Wasps (Plus some Sawflies)

: Bald-faced Hornets (guarding their nest)

: Bald-faced Hornets

: Bicolored Striped-Sweat bee (Agapostemon virescens) (South Portland, ME; 6/15/2022) (Photo courtesy of Amy Haskins)

: Bumblebee (Sometimes written as two words)

: Bumblebee (queen)

: Eastern Cicada-killer Wasp (Sphecius speciosus) (~1.5″ long; solitary and non-aggressive) (they provision their underground rearing chambers with paralyzed cicadas as food for their offspring) (Raymond Cape, ME; 7/11/2022) (Photo courtesy of Paul Tracy)

: Eastern Cicada-killer Wasp (Sphecius speciosus) (~1.5″ long; solitary and non-aggressive) (often mistaken for a Murder Hornet due to its size) (Raymond Cape, ME; 7/11/2022) (Photo courtesy of Paul Tracy)

: Eastern Cicada-killer Wasp (Sphecius speciosus) (Photo courtesy of Scott Saunders) (8/29/2021; Hollis, Maine)

: Elm Sawfly adult (resembles a large wasp) (7/1/2020; Edgecomb, Maine) (Photo by E. Kerr)

: Gold-marked Thread-waisted Wasp (Eremnophila aureonotata) (Rockport, ME; 8/30/2020)

: Great Black Digger Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus) (solitary; females provision their underground rearing chambers with usually 3 katydids per nest (Old Town, ME; 8/4/2025)

: Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus) (solitary; females provision their rearing chambers or cells with katydids, one per cell with one egg deposited on each one) (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Morton; Detroit, Maine; 8/19/2021)

: Greene’s Giant Ichneumonid Wasp (Megarhyssa greenei) (Panton, VT – but also found in Maine) (9/29/2025) (Photo courtesy of Warren Chase)

: Honey Bees (Sometimes written as one word)

: A species of Ichneumonidae wasp (Therion circumflexon) (North Anson, ME; 5/23/2024) (Photo courtesy of Carol Lehto)

: Guinea Paper Wasps (Polistes exclamans)

: Northern Paper Wasp (Polistes fuscatus) (Orono, ME; 9/14/2025) (Photo courtesy of Edward S. Grew)

: Northern Paper Wasp (Polistes fuscatus) (known also by three other common names: Dark Paper Wasp, Golden Paper Wasp and the Common Paper Wasp)

: Example of a solitary ground-nesting bee (Port Clyde, ME; 7/11/2009)

: A sand wasp (Bicyrtes ventralis) (Troy, Maine; 7/29/2009) Sand wasps are solitary, non-aggressive and beneficial.

: Sweat Bees / Halictids

: Example of a Potter wasp (likely Ancistrocerus gazella) (the female collects as many as twenty caterpillars to provision each nest which she later seals with mud)

: Catskill Potter Wasp (Ancistrocerus catskill) (Troy, ME; 6/17/2008) (This wasp is a solitary species of Vespid wasp in the group known as Potter and Mason wasps.)

: Velvet Ant [wasp] (female) (Dasymutilla gibbosa) (these are actually wasps and the wingless females are ant mimics; females are not aggressive but have a very painful stinger) (Hermon, ME; 7/19/2025) (Photo courtesy of Michelle Shores)

: Velvet Ant [wasp] (female) (Dasymutilla gibbosa) (these are actually wasps and the wingless females are ant mimics; females are not aggressive but have a very painful stinger) (Kennebunk, ME; 8/12/2025) (Photo courtesy of Kari Gates)

: American Yellowjacket / Alaska Yellowjacket (Vespula alascensis) (female worker) (Searsport, ME; 7/23/2023)

: Downy Yellowjacket (Vespula flavopilosa) (Orono, ME; 9/12/2025) (Photo courtesy of Edward S. Grew)

: European Hornet
(Open the photo to see a side-by-side comparison with a Yellowjacket)

Note: To see some flies that are good at mimicking bees, visit our page of syrphid flies.

Additional Photos and Information:

Bald-faced Hornets
Bicolored Striped-sweat Bee, Agapostemon virescens (BugGuide.net)
Bumblebees (BugGuide.net)
Eastern Cicada-killer Wasp (Sphecius speciosus) (Missouri Dept. of Conservation) See also: Eastern Cicada-killer Wasp (BugGuide.net)
Downy Yellowjacket – Vespula flavopilosa (BugGuide.net) (thick yellow hairs on the thorax and abdomen)
European hornets (University of Kentucky)
Golden Paper Wasp / Dark Paper Wasp / Northern Paper Wasp (BugGuide.net)
Gold-marked Thread-waisted Wasp (BugGuide.net)
Great Black Digger Wasp (BugGuide.net)
Great Golden Digger Wasp (Univ. of Wisconsin) | Great Golden Digger Wasp (BugGuide.net)
Greene’s Giant Ichneumonid Wasp (BugGuide.net)
Ground-nesting Solitary Bees (Cornell)
Guinea Paper Wasp (BugGuide.net)
Honey bees (eXtension.org)
Horntail Wasp s (BugGuide.net)
Ichneumonid wasps
- Greene’s Giant Ichneumonid Wasp (BugGuide.net)
- Therion circumflexum (BugGuide.net)
Northern Paper Wasp (BugGuide.net)
Paper Wasps
- Dark Paper Wasp / Northern Paper Wasp (BugGuide.net)
- Guinea Paper Wasp (BugGuide.net)
P igeon Horntail Wasp, Tremex columba (BugGuide.net)
Potter and Mason Wasps (subfamily Eumeninae): Genus Ancistrocerus (BugGuide.net)
Sand Wasps (Missouri Dept of Conservation)
- Bicyrtes ventralis (BugGuide.net)
Sawflies (also called “Stingless wasps” as they highly resemble wasps but they do not sting)
Sweat Bees (BugGuide.net)
- Bicolored Striped-sweat Bee, Agapostemon virescens (BugGuide.net)
Thread-waisted wasps (Family Sphecidae):
- Gold-marked Thread-waisted Wasp (BugGuide.net)
- Great Golden Digger Wasp (Univ. of Wisconsin)
Velvet Ants — these are actually solitary wasps with females that look like fuzzy ants and are equipped with a very painful stinger, giving rise to two other common names: “mule killers” and “cow killers” because of the intensity of the pain. Dasymutilla gibbosa (BugGuide.net)
Wood Wasps / Horntails (BugGuide.net)
Yellowjackets