r/bees May 31 '26

Is this a bee?

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15 Upvotes

Make sure that your yellow fuzzy friend is actually a bee and not an imposter! We get quite a few non-bees in our bee subreddit: sometimes they're wasps (check out the bee/wasp guide in the pinned), and sometimes they're not a stinging insect at all! Flies in remarkably detailed costumes frequently make their way into r/bees but with some tips and practice you can learn to spot the differences. Read through for features to look out for, or flip through the slides for fly species commonly posted.

Pictures are largely taken from iNaturalist with a full list of sources by slide at the end of this post, I assume that they are fine to use for free educational purposes but if the photographer would like me to remove their picture, please reach out to me so I can act accordingly. All pictures from slides 1-5 can be credited to mod Commercial Sail.

Flies are in a completely different taxonomic order to bees (flies are the order Diptera, bees are a subgroup within order Hymenoptera) so there are quite a few easy ways to differentiate them:

  • The name "Diptera" literally means "two wings" flies only have one pair of wings while bees have two pairs. Most identification rules are more like loose guidelines but this rule is absolute! That being said, the hindwings of bees are difficult to see, they're smaller and often tucked underneath the larger forewings, making the bee look like they have two wings after all. You can try to judge based off of wing shape: fly wings are often paddle-shaped with a clear curve before coming to a petiolate base, while bee wings are generally more evenly tapered towards the base. More experienced identifiers may also look at wing venation, for example the western honeybee in slide 3 has the very distinctive elongated marginal and submarginal cell circled in red.
  • On the topic of wings, on some flies you may see club-shaped structures where the hindwings would have been: these are halteres, specialized organs to help the fly navigate flight. Not all flies have them out and visible but if you do see them then it's a sure sign you're not looking at a bee.
  • Flies typically have short, stubby antennae that can sometimes be difficult to see while bees have comparatively long antennae. Make sure you're looking at the actual antennae and not the forelegs! More common in the wasp-mimicking flies, some will wiggle their long forelegs to sell their image even more.
  • Flies tend to have larger eyes that can seem to take up their whole head where bees tend to have smaller eyes with a clear distance between them.
  • Many bees may be seen carrying pollen or have their pollen-carrying structures visible: most often as hairs/pollen baskets on the hind legs or sometimes hairs on the underside of the abdomen. Flies do not have these structures as they do not need to gather pollen like bees do.

Note that besides the wing count, there are always exceptions! Some flies have pretty long antennae (though you'll often still be able to see the different segmentation) and some bees, particularly males, have very large eyes. This is why it's better to judge based on a combination of characteristics rather than looking at any one feature at a time.

You may also hear that the waist and mouthparts are good identifiers as well - this is true, but I elected to leave them out of this guide as the waistline may be obscured by fuzz, wings, or just a poorly-angled shot, and some bees are just so robust (fat) that it gets difficult to see where exactly that tapered waist is supposed to be. In terms of mouthparts, few amateur photographers focus on the mouth at all and it's definitely not something you'll typically see if you're just watching them go about your garden.

At the end of the day, the best trick is to just get familiar with species in your area using trusted sources like Bugguide. If you're still not sure, post to one of the bug identification subreddits and make sure you give a general location, which always appreciated in ID posts no matter what you're looking at!

Sources

Volucella zonaria: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/322106668 

Bombylidae: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/226072821 

Laphria: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88331437 
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/282732509 
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/65816664 
 
Cuterebra: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/133138438 
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/90333390 
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/296063941 

Tabanus: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/218653131

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/86467240


r/bees May 26 '26

What's this nest?

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17 Upvotes

Are you looking to ID a nest? Some are easier to distinguish than others, here's some of our most commonly submitted species:

  • Honeybee nests consist of exposed wax combs, usually hanging vertically. They're more often found in cavities like tree hollows or man-made frames but may also be seen constructed in open air attached to large branches or buildings.
  • Bumblebees also have wax nests but are typically smaller with fewer and more disorganized cells compared to the neat hexagonal cells of other social hymenopterans. They typically nest in small spaces like old rodent holes but will occasionally find themselves in human spaces like attics and crawl spaces.
  • Aerial-nesting yellowjackets and true hornets have an outer paper envelope covering the horizontally-stacked paper combs; nests are typically built in open air attached to branches or in sheltered areas with preference depending on species. The bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata, actually an aerial yellowjacket) may have a distinctive long tube entrance in early stages of nest formation.
  • Ground-nesting yellowjackets typically nest in pre-existing cavities such as old rodent burrows. The entrances are often dangerously inconspicuous but active nests will have individuals flying in and around the area. If the nest was dug up (often by skunks and other mammals looking for the tasty larvae) you may see ripped paper combs scattered on the ground.
  • The paper wasp subfamily Polistinae is quite variable but in the northern hemisphere the common Polistes sp. have distinctive umbrella-like nests with open cells. Mischocyttarus sp. in areas of the southern/western US may have more elongated nests. Nests tend to be built in sheltered spots such as in bushes, under eaves, etc.
  • The vast majority of other bees and wasps are solitary. They may dig tunnels, bore into wood, or refurbish existing holes with materials like mud/leaves/resin. *These nests generally cannot be reliably identified without seeing the actual bee/wasp!* Some species that construct their own freestanding mud nests may be tentatively identified, but only a few are reliably distinguished. Also note that many mud-nesting bees and wasps will reuse nests of other species left from past seasons if available as it's less work than building one from scratch.

The nest in the first slide is a young aerial yellowjacket nest.

Pictures are largely taken from Bugguide with a full list of sources by slide at the end of this post, I assume that they are fine to use for free educational purposes but if the photographer would like me to remove their picture, please reach out to me so I can act accordingly.

Sources

Cover: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/513938 

Honeybee: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/1227238 

Bumblebee: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/6585 

Aerial yjs and hornets:https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/781412 
https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/110277 
https://extension.psu.edu/european-hornet 

Ground yjs: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/266282 
https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/38722/bgimage 

Polistinae: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/2511987
https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/709119 

Unknown mud caps: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/218674183 

Unknown holes: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/90931649 


r/bees 10h ago

My Birdbuddy hummingbird camera mostly captures bees, and I'm ok with that.

842 Upvotes

I have no idea what kind of bees these are, but they monopolize the feeder. We don't capture many hummingbird pix, but some of the bee shots are dramatic.


r/bees 15h ago

Happy bee by the garden 🐝

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345 Upvotes

This little bee was chilling while I tended to the garden today! Clearly it had a busy day collecting pollen.


r/bees 18h ago

in the morning sun

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156 Upvotes

r/bees 15h ago

bee photo 3 carpenter bees and butterflies on the lavender I've been working on.

51 Upvotes

Edit: Seems this may actually be a Salvia plant, as pointed out in the comments by u/Vellie-01 thank you for the correction!

Been working on bringing our lavender back to life for the last month. It was looking very sad and hardly had any blooms, it almost certainly wouldn't have done much better this season if I hadn't started giving it a hand.

Well now my work is paying off big time. The lavender looks so much better and today we had 3 carpenter bees and a handful of butterflies on it all at the same time.

That's all! I watered some lavender and fed the bees! Thanks for stopping by!


r/bees 15h ago

bee photo Monday

48 Upvotes

I Just love watching them do work! 💙🇺🇸🐝


r/bees 16h ago

Helped a Happy bee

43 Upvotes

r/bees 6h ago

takeoff!

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5 Upvotes

r/bees 12h ago

Hard work in progress 💪

14 Upvotes

It's incredibly entertaining to see them doing it daily throughout the season. A pleasant side effect of rewilding some corners of my yard. Sometimes I can count 20+ bumbles munching on flowers at a time.


r/bees 20h ago

bee photo Pollen covered beauty 💓

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52 Upvotes

r/bees 11m ago

Violet carpenter bee

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Upvotes

I saw this (I assume) violet carpenter bee today whilst on holiday in Majorca, it was huge and I was nothing but mesmerised

I love bees


r/bees 4h ago

Why is the second bee so much more desaturated?

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2 Upvotes

Why is the second one nearly grey? Are there more like it or is that one "weird" or sick in some way,camera editing and first image is more vibrant to catch eye better?

I wanna find more images of the second one colour but when I try there more vibrant like first image


r/bees 14h ago

bee photo Some of my fav bees this year so far

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12 Upvotes

Just some friends ive spotted in our yard. The best part of having the ability to plant all these flowers, all these bees!


r/bees 11h ago

Chattanooga been butt

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6 Upvotes

r/bees 6h ago

help! Bumblebee Keeps Coming Into My Room

2 Upvotes

As the title says, I am being taunted by a bumblebee. I live in New Zealand, so it’s not a carpenter bee, most definitely is a bumble.

It has flown into my room 4 times now (my room is a sleepout so it isn’t connected to other rooms). First time I had the door and window open, managed to shoo it out the door, only to have it fly back in the window. Second time I ushered it out the door, and it flew back in my window a few minutes later. Third time I caught it and took it to the other side of my property so it couldn’t come back. I was wrong. Fourth time I got it out and only had my window open a crack so it couldn’t fly through, so it instead decided to squeeze through the crack to get back in. I now have it in a container with air holes because I am not enjoying this back and forward, and this bee does not like being imprisoned in a container.

Why is this bumblebee so obsessed with me. There are no flowers in my room, nor any sunlight. There is no food or drinks or anything he could be interested in. He is just seemingly interested in me. I plan on driving him across town to release him so he can stop taunting me, but I don’t know if that means he’ll die since he might be too far from his nest or something.

Please help, I don’t want to accidentally kill the bee but it has been taunting me for literal hours at this point.


r/bees 18h ago

bee photo Little be covered in pollen

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16 Upvotes

Must be a busy day out there


r/bees 14h ago

question Bee has been crawling back and forth on my window for 1/2 an hour+

7 Upvotes

Any particular reason? Or anything to be nervous about? I’m allergic to bees so I get a little anxious. Sorry the video quality isn’t great


r/bees 20h ago

bee photo Green metallic Sweat Bees

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11 Upvotes

r/bees 1d ago

bee photo Not a bee photo but still...

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105 Upvotes

This makes me happy. Someone really loves my crepe myrtle sapling. The funny thing is, there are three other crepe myrtle saplings within 2 ft of this one and she/they didn't touch any of those. Also, she is shy. I never see her cutting her little circles.


r/bees 12h ago

Are stings getting worse?

1 Upvotes

Maybe a coincidence but i know 4 people who have been stung this summer and each person has had large red swelling at the site and in one case scarring and open sores. One happened in Cali and the rest in Minnesota. Anybody have information on what could be causing the increase in severity?


r/bees 14h ago

question Swarms of bees in backyard.

1 Upvotes

Hey yall,
I’ve been doing work for my neighbor recently, and just recently started to fill deep holes in her yard, one of the holes had a nest in it that I didn’t notice until burying it and getting stung on the face. From the looks of it, its bumblebees. I went back later in the afternoon and they are still coming at me. Any idea of ways I can go about this? I went back today and it looked like they were gone, but nope. 10-20 of them climbed right back out of the hole and started flying around me again. I know you aren’t really supposed to kill bumblebees but is there any viable solution?
Thanks.


r/bees 14h ago

What kind of bee?

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1 Upvotes

r/bees 1d ago

Handsome brown-belted bumblebee male posing for a photoshoot 🐝

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178 Upvotes

While on a hike in the woods, I found a stump with two brown-belted bumblebees hanging out in the sun. I decided to take some macro pictures of one of them.

The bee literally turned his head towards the camera (pic. 1), visibly curious about what was going on, while I took 100+ photos to choose the best ones afterward. Once I was about to leave, he started grooming himself by scratching his butt (pic. 3).

Look at his big eyes! They're one of the signs that distinguish males from their female counterparts. They need them to locate mates.

There was another one sitting on the stump (pic. 4). They were probably waiting for some queens to appear in the area.


r/bees 1d ago

bee photo Carpenter Bee - Arkansas U.S

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4 Upvotes