wasps and bees

dubtom

After watching a program a while back on Africanised 'bees' taking over in the states I'm a little confused on the type of bee's/wasps we have in Ireland. Firstly, the african bees looked exactly like our wasps here to my eye, they didn't look at all like the good old bumble bee. I know we have 3 types, wasps,black and yellow. Bumble bees, black and orange? and another type, smaller than the bumble but lighter in colour. Are the african bee actually wasps or do bees in the states look completly different to our variaties.

Nothingcompares

That my friend is a honey bee. In Ireland, our species of Bumblebee (over 20) look very distinct from Wasps. I agree the honey bee looks a little bit more like a wasp than a bumblebee. There are honey bees in Ireland (and most of the temperate world).

I think you need to understand that wasps aren't types of bee. Wasps, ants and bees all belong to the insect order hymenoptera. So wasps are more closely related to bees than they are to beetles but they also belong to completely different genuses and families.

You can look through some of the different species of bumblebee present in Ireland here

Nothingcompares

Also, Bees and Wasps can also be subdivided into two superficial groups, the social bees/wasps and the soliary bees/wasps. The social bees are the bumblebees and honey bees which live in large colonies ranging from a few hundred (bumblebees) to a few thosand (honey bees). Solitary bees don't live in colonies.

Thirdly I think this thread should be in the Nature/Bird watching thread but that's just me.