Chris Slade (02/07/00) asked of BEE-Listers :

"I notice from this mail that wasps and yellow jackets are not alternative
names for the same insect.  For the benefit of those of us who don't have
them can somebody post the latin names please?"

Chris et al.:

'Yellow jackets'  are a kind of wasp.  I hope the following is helpful:

Yellow Jackets:

Kingdom:   Animalia
Phylum:  Arthropoda
Class:  Hexapoda (or Insecta)
Order:  Hymenoptera  (= Bees, Ants, Wasps, Sawflies)
Suborder:  Apocrita  (= wasps with a constricted "waist")
Superfamily:  Vespoidea  ( = social wasps)
Family:  Vespidae  (= ground, and some aerial, nesting wasps)

Species:  Vespula and Dolichovespula

According to an American Bee Journal article (1987, vol. 127, page 693 by
Mayer et al.) , the species of yellow jackets associated w/ honey bees in
the USA are:   Vespula pensylvanica, V. vulgaris, and V. germanica.

If possible, also see the following publication for help with yellow jacket
classification:  The Yellowjackets of America North of Mexico.  1980. USDA
Agr. Handbook 552. 102 pages,  by Akre, Greene, MacDonald, Landolt,  and
Davis.

There are many thousands of wasp species that are in hymenopteran  families
OTHER than the Vespidae.  That is, "yellow jackets" constitute but a few
species of predaceous wasps.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Vogt
approx. 123 W  48N