Does this little bee sting?

[bamboozled]

Hi folks, I have a cluster of little bee looking insects on the underside of some leaves. It looks like they are trying to build a nest or something. I think I've seen these little buggers land on my arm from time to time in the past and they never caused me any harm. They are about 1 to 1.5 cm long only. I want to cut out the branch they are on...doing some house cleaning. Can I ignore them or are they going to sting me?

 

Thanks....

Edited June 6, 2018 by bamboozled
add photos

[chingmai331]

Google 'stingless bee thailand'. 

[WHYWHY]

Looks like a Wasp 

[bamboozled]

....does look like a stinger at the end. But they're not very aggressive.

[canuckamuck]

They are not bees they are wasps and one of those guys stung me on the nose just yesterday. They were building a nest just under a leaf like in the picture, as I was cutting weeds around the tree. They sting and it hurts, but on a sting scale I would give it a 3 out of 10. Although it is possible he didn't get me very well. Don't know the type of wasp though.

 

[connda]

 

[dinsdale]

Looks like a paper wasp (not a bee). Aggressive if disturbed and yes they sting (on mass).

[Brayka]

Yes they sting, and they all come after you if you  distriburb them.

[watcharacters]

16 hours ago, WHYWHY said:

Looks like a Wasp 

 

 

Yellow jackets?

 

[watcharacters]

12 hours ago, connda said:

 

 

One of my all time favorite scenes

 

 

[Tapster]

I've come across these in our garden once or twice. We live in Phuket.

 

They do sting and, as was said above, it's a mild 3-4 out of ten.

 

 

Edited June 7, 2018 by Tapster

[oldrunner]

No thanks, I prefer those with no sting. I'm allergic to stings regardless of source.

[RickTik]

They are wasps.  If you don't act like a threat to them, they won't bother you.

Give them space to enter and leave their nesting area, don't startle them, and just be courteous to them.

The queen will pick up that positive vibe and there will be no problems.

I like having them around my greenhouse because they act like  "watch wasps".

If a person comes around that doesn't respect their space and startles them, they will take care of business.

Since I know how to interact and communicate with them,  and respect their space, I never get stung or bothered.

[Formaleins]

They are wasps and yes, they sting but no where near as painful as a bee. If you look around where they are, you will probably find their nest, usually on the underside of wood or leaves, small brownish paper type nest. If you leave them alone they won't bother you, but if you have small kids incinerate them with a flaming aerosol.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

4 hours ago, Formaleins said:

If you leave them alone they won't bother you, but if you have small kids incinerate them with a flaming aerosol.

 

I'm not sure that's legal to do with kids.

[bamboozled]

They seem to have dissipated. I may have cut down their nest on another part of the tree and didn't notice it. Luckily, they did not sting me. I don't believe bees mate but they did seem to be having some kind of social interaction as they were sort of crawling on top of each other/grappling. Later that same day, I saw a group of about 6 or 8 bigger, green in color, wasps congregating on the end of a rope. That made me think there was something about this time of year that leads bee-type thingies to hold get-togethers. Is it jamboree season?

[stuartd1]

8 hours ago, WinnieTheKhwai said:

 

I'm not sure that's legal to do with kids.

No - but it works!

[tomdfc]

I got many stings last year and it took me some time to work out where the wasps were coming from - yes, on the underside of a large frangipani leaf.  Every time I brushed past the tree that set them off.  I actually broke a finger trying to swat them off my legs,   

[MyFriend You]

On 6/7/2018 at 12:43 PM, RickTik said:

They are wasps.  If you don't act like a threat to them, they won't bother you.

Give them space to enter and leave their nesting area, don't startle them, and just be courteous to them.

The queen will pick up that positive vibe and there will be no problems.

I like having them around my greenhouse because they act like  "watch wasps".

If a person comes around that doesn't respect their space and startles them, they will take care of business.

Since I know how to interact and communicate with them,  and respect their space, I never get stung or bothered.

Some people are confused by this quote abve - but the answer is Pheromones - your sweat is familiar to them, I have a dozen natural bee hives in my mango trees and often climb up to have a look, they don't sting me - when I am relocating a hive I still use the 'smoking gun' to calm them down.