Yellow Jacket

	Class:	Order:	Family:
	Insecta	Hymenoptera	Vespidae

Size:	Yellowjacket adult workers are 3/8-5/8 in (10-16 mm) long, depending on species; queens are 25% longer.
Color:	Abdomen usually has yellow and black bands, but some species are white and black, and two northern species have red markings.
Characteristics:	Wings are folded lengthwise when the yellowjacket is at rest.
Geographic Range:	All around the world; 16 species in the United States
Food:	Insects and nectar.
Biology:	Yellowjackets are social insects that live in colonies. Each colony has a queen that lays the eggs, female workers that do not reproduce, and males that come forth in late summer, being reared in the same cells that were earlier used for the workers. Larger cells for rearing queens are built at the end of the season. Mating occurs in fall after newly emerged queens and males leave the nest. Only queens who have mated hibernate and live through the winter. The past season's queen who built the nest, as well as the workers and the males, all die.

• May notice nests in cracks or openings to your buildings.
• Nests are also often found in trees.
• May find a new colony swarming around an old nest.