Bald-faced hornets greatly resemble their yellowjacket relatives, with black bodies and a predominantly white-patterned face. They also have two slanted lines running from their midsection towards their head and on the latter part of their abdomen. Like yellowjackets and paper wasps, the surface of their upper-midsection almost looks triangular from the side.

Queen bald-faced hornets are larger in size than their adult-worker counterparts. Their aerial nests are grey and paper-like, but they are enclosed unlike the open cone structure of other stinging hornets and insects, like yellowjackets and paper wasps.

The Yellow Jacket is a North American predatory insect that builds a large nest to house the colony.

These bee-sized social wasps are black with yellow markings on the front of the head and yellow banding around the abdomen. The face is primarily yellow with dark eyes. Front wings of Vespidae are folded lengthwise when at rest. The large antennae are conspicuous. Due to their size, shape and coloration these wasps are sometimes mistaken for bees. Yellow jackets' closest relatives, the hornets, closely resemble them but have a much bigger head.

Yellow Jackets are common visitors to picnics and parks in the summer as they are attracted to meat, fruit and sweet drinks. Yellow jackets are social insects that live in large colonies. The queen, drones and worker all have specific tasks to help support the colony. The queen lays hundreds of eggs. The male drones' main function is to be ready to fertilize a receptive queen. Workers do all the different tasks needed to operate and maintain the nest.

Other insects exhibit mimicry of yellow jackets. The color mimics look similar to the aggressive yellow jacket in order to avoid predation.

Paper wasps are 3/4 to 1 inch long, slender, narrow-waisted wasps with smoky black wings that are folded lengthwise when at rest. Paper wasps are usually brown with yellow markings on the head, thorax and bands on the abdomen. Paper wasps should not be confused with yellowjackets and baldfaced hornets. Paper wasp nests are open and cells are not covered with a cap (in an envelope).

Paper wasp colonies contain three castes: workers, queens and males. Fertilized queens, which appear similar to workers, hide themselves through the winter in protected habitats such as cracks and crevices in structures or under tree bark. In the spring they select a nesting site and begin to build a nest (nests are built from wood fibre collected from posts and occasionally from live plant stems)

Mud daubers are wasp-like insects that construct nests from mud. They make a variety of nests ranging from elaborate structures (i.e., multiple tubes several inches long or small vase-like nests attached to plant stems) to merely ‘plastering’ up existing cracks or crevices in wood, stone, or masonry. Many mud daubers will fill holes in round openings found in equipment and lawn furniture. These wasps range in size from one-half inch in length to slightly more than one inch. They often have bright, metallic coloration and narrow thread-like waists. Like other wasps and bees, metamorphosis is complete, and the immature wasps look like worms. Mud daubers are not social insects, although many females may be found using the same general areas for nesting.

Mud daubers are not aggressive insects and rarely sting, unless they are threatened or inadvertently contacted. Although the venom is primarily for paralyzing and preserving prey, it is painful. The yellow and black mud dauber was rated a 1 on a pain scale ranging from 1 (mild) to 4 (severe), which was the same rating as the red imported fire ant