Missouri is home to several species of bees such as bumblebees, carpenter bees, leaf bees and sweat bees. The two largest bee species are the bumblebees and carpenter bees; both of these bees range from .75 to 1.5 inches long. While similar in size, the bumblebee has yellow and black hairs all over its body; carpenter bees only have yellow or orange hair on the thorax. Bumblebees, leaf cutter bees, sweat bees and carpenter bees do not have barbed stingers, meaning they are able to sting repeatedly. Only female bees have stingers since the stingers are used for laying eggs.
Social wasps are stinging insects that form a colony of wasps. Each colony has workers that build the nest, and a queen whose responsibility is starting a nest and reproduction. Missouri's list of social wasps features yellow jackets, paper wasps and bald-faced hornets. Social wasps do not generally grow as large as solitary wasps since more bodies must fit into a social wasp's nest. Many of Missouri's social wasp nests are underneath wooden or metal beams in building structures; some species, such as the yellow jacket, build their nests underground. All social wasps are able to deliver multiple stings and will attack predators as a group in order to defend themselves.
Velvet ants, mud daubers, great golden diggers and cicada killers round out the list of Missouri's solitary wasps. As opposed to social wasps, solitary wasps do not live in a colony. These wasps are responsible for building their own nests and laying eggs. Some solitary wasps -- mud daubers and cicada killers -- use mud to develop nests, while the velvet ant utilizes ground holes and cavities for nests. Solitary wasps are able to sting repeatedly without fear of losing their stingers. The largest solitary wasp is the cicada killer, which grows up to 2 inches; these wasps only sting humans if they are handled or stepped upon.
The coniferous and deciduous forests in eastern Missouri and the Great Plains grasslands are home to many ants. The Show Me State has 147 species of ants; of these 147 species, 11 are invasive to Missouri, meaning they are not native to the state. Some of Missouri's stinging ant families are acrobat ants, fire ants and pavement ants; one of these species, fire ants, are sporadic in Missouri and have not created an established population in the state. Ants are usually not pests in human households, but these insects are drawn to food left out in the open, even if it's inside a house.