Talk:Yellowjacket

Can we get a disambiguation

Yellowjacket/Yellow jacket is also the common name of numerous Euclayptus species, yet the term directs straight to this page. Can someone knowledgable adress this problem? Ethel Aardvark

Yellowjackets (TV Series inclusion in "In popular culture" section

In addition to the various real sports teams, it seems that a reference to Yellowjackets (TV Series) would be appropriate. Any reason not to add it?C.prettyman (talk) 19:49, 13 January 2022 (UTC)

Because the link you gave evidently doesn't have a corresponding Wikipedia article. If one existed, maybe a link would be appropriate. Dyanega (talk) 20:36, 13 January 2022 (UTC)

Usage of common name

The first sentence reads, "Yellowjacket or yellow jacket is the common name in North America for predatory social wasps..." I don't think that's accurate. North America includes the Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, Clipperton Island, Greenland, Mexico, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the United States.

I have no wish to stir up a hornet's nest like the wrangling over the article name and scope. Nevertheless, does anyone object to changing "North America" to "United States"? Wiktionary says the term yellowjacket is "chiefly US" though there is probably some spillover to Canada, as usual. (Personally, having been stung today, I used mostly four-letter words.) Humpster (talk) 02:57, 28 September 2024 (UTC)

Then say "the United States and Canada". Dyanega (talk) 22:09, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

Since we are talking about common names, how about "English-speaking North America."

(The "four letter words" may also not have four letters outside of English.)

For all of my long life in U.S., a yellowjacket has been something that looks to a lot of people like a honeybee and nests in the ground (and may be really mean if you are too close to the nest). A hornet is something that makes somewhat football-shaped paper nest, aboveground. It looks like in Europe their are Dolichovespula that look more like our yellowjackets but next aboveground. I don't plan to revise my use of common names to recognize what exists in Europe. ~2026-42149-56 (talk) 11:13, 31 July 2026 (UTC)

@Humphrey Tribble @Dyanega @~2026-42149-56 - this page definitely needs renaming and reworking, as it is very US-POV-pushing for insects that occur far more widely than just USA (plus or minus Canada). In Britain the term 'yellowjacket' is a high visibility garment that people wear for road safety; it is never used for wasps, making this page unintelligible for UK readers. Same too probably for India, Australia, etc. - MPF (talk) 21:50, 17 September 2026 (UTC)

It is not about being US-centric or UK-centric, it is about having a recognizable and distinct common name for this group of insects. There is no distinct commmon name for this group of insects in the UK; the term "wasp", everywhere else in the world, refers collectively to well over 100,000 different species. In the UK, for very idiosyncratic reasons, it is used for fewer than a dozen species. The only common name, then, that is used for this group of insects and ONLY this group of insects, is yellowjackets. The article title cannot use a scientific name, because there are two genera involved, and to the exclusion of other genera within the tribe Vespini. That the one viable common name happens to have its origins in the US and not the UK is an historical artifact, and that's all - this is not a matter of "playing favorites", as you imply. This same problem applies to at least two other big groups of insects: there are over 2400 species of mantises in the world, but in the UK, the term refers to just one species; there are 22 species of hornets in the world, but in the UK, the term refers to just one species. These ultra-narrow usages of general names for very limited numbers of species are not suitable for a global encyclopedia - the same reason the article for bee covers ALL bees, the article for dolphin covers ALL dolphins, etc. - an encyclopedia usually applies the broadest definition of a name, not the narrowest. Exceptions are made when there is an overlap with a group that goes under a single scientific name; for example, Felidae is the article for all cats, allowing the domestic cat to get the cat article all to itself (same for Canidae versus dog), and also cases like Columbidae, the article that contains both pigeons and doves (which are therefore not separate articles), or Coccinellidae, the article for the beetles that have about a dozen common names like ladybug, ladybird, and lady beetle - the dispute over common names is resolved by using the scientific name instead. It would be great if yellowjacket could redirect to a scientific name, but it can't. Dyanega (talk) 00:30, 19 September 2026 (UTC)

@Dyanega "it is about having a recognizable and distinct common name for this group of insects" - this fails, utterly, and totally, on the recognisable aspect. It is not recognisable for an international audience, and therefore, on this criterion, not a valid option for the page name. Having looked around a bit, I'd suggest a merge to Vespinae; that only adds in Vespa (which are frequently not distinguished in popular use) and "(t)he remaining genus, Provespa, ... a small, poorly known group of nocturnal wasps from Southeast Asia". - MPF (talk) 10:19, 19 September 2026 (UTC)

economic importance related to removal

This is some personal observation that I have not incorporated because don't have references. In the U.S., nests often have to be removed for Polistes and Dolichovespula as well as Vespula, but I think that probably the most removals are for Vespula, because they nests frequently show up in lawns where humans are likely to be present, and the wasps are likely be quite aggressive when you are close to the nest. Social wasps are most likely to be a problem in mid to late summer, I suppose just because the sizes of colonies have become large then. ~2026-42149-56 (talk) 11:34, 31 July 2026 (UTC)

You are very unlikely to be able to obtain references for this, for multiple reasons, the two most significant being (1) the companies hired for bee and wasp nest removal don't have to share their records with any central agency, so any attempts to collate summary statistics are going to be missing a LOT of records (2) many people, including pest control operators, call yellowjackets "bees" (sometimes "hornets") and any records they keep will not list "yellowjackets" at all. While you might be able to generate a ballpark estimate for the costs of all bee and wasp nest removals collectively, you're not going to be able to say what percentage of the total is attributable specifically to yellowjackets. Dyanega (talk) 14:18, 31 July 2026 (UTC)