Eastern Yellowjacket vs Giant Neotropical Carpenter Bee

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Eastern Yellowjacket Giant Neotropical Carpenter Bee
Scientific Name Vespula maculifrons Xylocopa frontalis
Order Hymenoptera Hymenoptera
Family Vespidae Apidae
Size 12-16 mm 25-35 mm
Habitat Woodlands Woodlands
Diet Carrion Feeders Wood Feeders
Regions Eastern North America from Canada to the Gulf states Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Central America
Conservation Least Concern Not Evaluated

Eastern Yellowjacket

A common ground-nesting yellowjacket with bold black and yellow banding on its abdomen. It builds large paper nests underground that can contain thousands of workers.

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Did You Know?

Its underground nests can grow to the size of a basketball and contain over 4,000 workers by late summer.

Giant Neotropical Carpenter Bee

One of the largest bees in the Americas with a robust black body and yellowish thoracic hair. Females bore nesting tunnels into dead wood and timber.

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Did You Know?

It is the most effective natural pollinator of passion fruit, and crop yields decline significantly where it disappears.