Many people might think that bees would be very easy to distinguish from flies and wasps but surprisingly they can share a lot of traits, especially since some flies try to mimic bees!

We can’t necessarily use colours to differentiate them. Bees, flies, and wasps can share many colours like blue, yellow, black, and green.

So, what features can we use to help figure out who is who?

Here are some quick tips on how to identify insects into these three groups.

Bees have:

  • Two pairs of wings – this feature can be hard to tell but if you look closely at the left bee photo you can see a larger wing called the forewing and a smaller wing right behind it called the hindwing.
  • Longer antennae than flies – You should always be able to see bee antennae and sometimes their antennae can be very long. Note that males have longer antennae than females so if you notice a bee with especially long antennae, you may have found a male!
  • Pollen-collecting hairs which are referred to as scopa – bees collect pollen for protein, so they have evolved special branched hairs that are very efficient at collecting pollen. If you see pollen clearly attached to a hairy part of their body – you likely have a bee! Note – not all bees have scopa, since some species are parasitic and actually take resources from other bees.
  • Hairy/wider legs – Some bees have special larger hind legs called pollen baskets to collect pollen or they will have scopa on their hind legs to collect pollen.

Left: Leafcutter bee with pollen collected on stomach’s scopa (pollen-collecting, branched hairs). Photo: Sarah Johnson. Right: Male long-horned bee Photo: eamonccorbett. Note: male bees have longer antennae than females, and long-horned male bees have especially long antennae.

Flies have:

  • One pair of wings – Unlike bees and wasps they only have one pair of wings instead of two.
  • Shorter antennae than bees and wasps – You often won’t be able to see the antennae at all on a fly, and if you will notice they are much smaller than wasp and bee antennae.
  • No pollen-collecting hairs (scopa) – Flies don’t eat pollen for protein, instead they eat other insects, decaying animals or animal waste for their protein so they don’t need special pollen-collecting hairs. However, many flies mimic bees and can be very hairy but they aren’t the special pollen-collecting hairs bees have so they likely won’t have as much pollen on them as a bee would, see the right fly photo for an example.
  • Large, close together eyes – Wasps and bees can sometimes have large eyes, but they often aren’t nearly as exaggerated as fly eyes and fly eyes are usually closer together as well.
  • Skinny legs –As mentioned previously, flies do not eat pollen so they don’t need these special adaptations for pollen collection and therefore they have very skinny legs.

Left: Syrphid fly. Photo: Ellen Richard. Right: Syrphid fly bee mimic. CPhoto: Tiffani Harrison. Note: the variability of the way the wings are held at rest, with the left being held out and the right photo being held on back at rest.

Wasps have:

  • Two pairs of wings – Like bees, wasps also have two pairs of wings. However, this feature can be hard to tell most of the time as the hindwing is very small, similar to bees.
  • Longer antennae than flies – You should always be able to visually see wasp antennae and often their antennae can be very long. Note: sometimes wasp antennae can be fairly low on their face which is not the case for most bees.
  • No pollen-collecting hairs (scopa) – Wasps don’t eat pollen for protein, instead they eat other insects for their protein. Therefore, they don’t need special pollen-collecting hairs. However, some wasps can have some hair on them, but it won’t be nearly as much hair as most bees.
  • Long, skinny legs –As mentioned previously, wasps do not eat pollen so they don’t need these special adaptations and therefore they have very skinny legs. Their legs are often very long as well which can help distinguish between flies.
  • Often a skinny, distinct waist – Most bees and flies do not have a distinct waist; however this can be variable.

Left: Yellow jacket wasp. Right: Green cuckoo wasp. Credit: NC State Agriculture and Life Sciences. Note: The waist of wasps can be very distinct or not very clear depending on the species.

The world of insects is diverse and sometimes it’s hard to tell who is who! Keep a look out for different insects and test your skills to distinguish between bees, flies, and wasps.

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