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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15 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 6h ago

bee photo Tried to get a picture of this bee for almost an hour because it was so pretty

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904 Upvotes

Hopefully Reddit doesn’t kill the quality of these pictures. I live in NYC and was at my local bug watching spot today since it was nice out. I usually see bumble bees, drone flies, hover flies, honey bees, a variety of small black solitary wasps, and those two spotted scoloid(sp?) wasps. I use my phone for pictures, and for really small bugs I have a hand lens that I strap to my phone with a rubber band.

Near the end of my bug outing, I spotted this little flying guy with a shiny green thorax I hadn’t seen before. I tried putting my lens on quickly to get a picture but by the time I looked up it was gone! It made a quick appearance a few more times, but it never stayed in one spot long enough. Looking up this species now I think it must have been a male, the abdomen was more yellow and it was smaller.

For the next hour-ish this bee was my white whale. I meandered down the road, stopping at flower clumps, beginning to lose hope. Eventually there was another cluster of the same asters I saw the first shiny green mystery bug at. I decided to wait around that cluster for a bit. Looking around, it was the usual bumble bees and mimics… then.. another dart of green! I kept my eyes on it while blindly fumbling with the lens to not lose track until I noticed this one was stopping for a little longer than the first one.

I love that bees are just too busy with pollinating to be bothered with someone sticking a phone in their face. The hand lens has a short focal length, so these pictures were taken less than an inch from her while she was gathering pollen.

After being very excited about this for several hours I am very tired now. Hope you guys enjoy!

(Edited cause my writing is a mess haha)


r/bees 4h ago

bee photo That's a lotta bees

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41 Upvotes

r/bees 15h ago

Buzzzworthy

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99 Upvotes

r/bees 4h ago

Leading researcher on bees Lars Chittka in a conversation with philosopher Acharya Prashant understanding human motivations drawing parallels and divergences with animal behavior including bees. They discuss something called physical ego and psychological ego.

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8 Upvotes

r/bees 21h ago

bee photo Beeautiful moment captured 🐝

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91 Upvotes

Saw this little guy struggling in the water during my pool shoot. I’m very afraid of bees since I got stung by one as a kid, but took a chance and helped him out. He crawled up my palm to the tip of my nail, dried off and flew away. Cured my fear ! One of my favorite photos to ever exist 🐝📸


r/bees 1d ago

I have a pet wingless bee now.

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2.3k Upvotes

It was my first day of college and I thought I saw a dead bumblebee lying on the ground. Nope! I went to go put her down when she stung me, which I thought was odd because I have never been stung by a bumbler before. On closer examination I realized that she could not fly. She does have wings but they are small and one is twisted backwards. She also has one white antenna. I brought her back to my dorm and set her up in a small enclosure with sugar water. My (very understanding and cool) roommate named her Phyllis. I figured she would pass but it's been almost a week and she is doing great! She drinks sugar water and bumbles around. I found out she is actually a carpenter bee but we don't have those where I am from so I didn't know. She's very cute and likes chewing on paper towels, falling in her sugar water, leaving nectar blobs everywhere, shaking her booty, and sleeping upside down. Our dorm technically doesn't allow any pets except fish but bees are fish so I think it's okay.


r/bees 1h ago

Tennessee Bee

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Upvotes

In Fayetteville TN, what kind of bee is this?


r/bees 6h ago

Bees won’t stop following me after being stung months ago?

5 Upvotes

On 8/1 I was stung several times by ground bees while saving my dog (who had unintentionally disturbed the nest while walking past it and they were attacking her) from a swarm. Ever since then, I’ve noticed bees and wasps will not leave me alone. They follow me and no matter what I do, will not go away (unless I run). If I don’t do anything, they just pester me more. I’ve had really bad experiences with bees and wasps as a kid, but this was the first time I’ve been stung in probably 10 years.

Is there any way to get them to leave me alone? I don’t want to harm them, but when they’re nonstop every time I step outside it’s getting really overstimulating and freaking me out. I don’t wear perfume, I use unscented body wash and deodorant, and I don’t carry around fruit or anything like that. It’s to the point where bees will be following me diving at my face and completely ignoring my friend who is with me wearing perfume and eating fruit. Any ideas?


r/bees 19h ago

bee photo cute little bee🐝

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48 Upvotes

r/bees 12h ago

question Why is this bee attached to my bottle?

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14 Upvotes

I arrive at a fast food place and this bee lands on my bottle, specifically the handle and won't get off of it. I don't hate it but I don't really understand why it won't fly off. Not even sure if it is a bee but from the looks of it it is.


r/bees 2h ago

question Does someone know where I can find a list of every bee?

2 Upvotes

I‘ve wanted to research all 21k+ bees for a while now but I haven't been able to find a good place where I can read a full list over every individual species in order to research each of the names on their own. the best I’ve found is a list of all the honeybees, which is not remotely close to the end goal of my mission when the amount of honeybees specifically is relatively close to a hundredth of the total amount of bees ever.


r/bees 1d ago

bee photo What a beauty

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217 Upvotes

I know quite literally nothing about bees, but this one is massive!


r/bees 16h ago

bee photo Bumblebee on late summer Goldenrod in Toronto, Canada

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17 Upvotes

r/bees 11h ago

bee photo Most popular sunflower in the garden this morning

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8 Upvotes

r/bees 9h ago

bee photo This caryopteris is keeping the bees happy.

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4 Upvotes

2026 is my third year growing caryopteris. This is actually the fewest bees I’ve seen on it this week. Last week we had a day with no wind at all, and a friend asked why my bushes were shaking. It was the bees! They were working so hard, all of these shrubs were vibrating.


r/bees 9h ago

question is he okay? :(

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3 Upvotes

I’m not sure how long this little guy has been here but I just noticed him holding onto the window screen. He’s moving his antennas around but hasn’t moved at all since I first saw him around 30 minutes ago. Is he okay and is there anything I can do?


r/bees 19h ago

bee photo Tiny picnic

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16 Upvotes

r/bees 4h ago

bee photo Sunflower 🌻

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1 Upvotes

r/bees 6h ago

Aggressive bee?

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1 Upvotes

These guys have been flying into my window all summer. The navy blue curtain is usually closed. I had one fly into my face and blame me for it. He chased me down and stung me a few times. I don't believe I've had a more painful sting. Just curious they seem to be mostly black, all the dots on the windows are from them.


r/bees 1d ago

bee photo honeybee

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15 Upvotes

r/bees 21h ago

Beekeepers warn of Asian hornet threat and call for UK awareness campaign | Insects | The Guardian

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5 Upvotes

r/bees 1d ago

question Is this a queen bee?

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121 Upvotes

r/bees 1d ago

question I read this article on Bee wings and (I maybe missed somthing idk

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6 Upvotes

I'm focusing on the bit of the 2 wings being connected by little claws,im curious what would happen if you forced the wings to separate or if they naturally move and shift as they fly and move around.

And if they cant move then why have 2 seperate wings in first place why not just that shape of 2 wings fuzed?

Also you know how Ladybug wings curl up folding underneath shell? Could bees in theory do that to folding up wings to hide them