Wasps

A wasp’s primary job in the garden is to manage populations of destructive insect pests, but some crops rely almost entirely on wasp pollination to reproduce. For example, fig wasps are the exclusive pollinators of many fig species, and date palms also depend on wasps for effective pollination. These highly specialized relationships highlight how even less-celebrated insects are vital to the foods people enjoy around the world.

While most bees are gentle when not feeling threatened, wasps are aggressive and generally happy to fight you even when you are minding your own business. Luckily, there are notable physical differences between wasps and bees.

To learn more about distinguishing between the two, check out our handy mnemonic learning tool below.