As a homeowner in Indiana, you’ve probably wondered what kind of wasp is building under your porch ceiling, coming out of a hole in the lawn, or bumping against your window on a warm March afternoon. Indiana has a shorter wasp season than the South, but its colonies grow fast in summer, and by August and September the state’s yellowjackets and hornets can be a real problem at picnics, ball games, and anywhere you mow.
For non-aggressive wasps I've had great luck spraying nests with this Spectracide wasp remover in the evening. For a nest up high in an eave, soffit, or tree, this Gotcha pole adapter clamps onto the can so you can spray from the end of an extension pole and treat the nest from 10+ feet away instead of standing right under it. And for anything aggressive I wear this ridiculous-looking upper torso beekeeping suit and keep my distance. It seems silly, but trust me, I learned the hard way.
The good news is that only a handful of Indiana’s wasps cause nearly all the stings: paper wasps, yellowjackets, and hornets. Many of the other wasps you’ll see are solitary, rarely sting, and eat garden pests. This guide covers the species Indiana homeowners run into most, how to tell them apart, when each is active, and how to deal with a nest safely.
For a nationwide overview, see our wasps by state regional guide. For identification features that apply to any species, see the complete wasp identification guide.
| Wasp | What it looks like | Where it nests | Sting risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern paper wasp | Slender, dark brown to reddish, few yellow markings, ~¾ in | Open paper comb under eaves, decks, sheds | Moderate near the nest |
| European paper wasp | Slender, yellow and black (looks like a yellowjacket), dangling legs | Open comb in grills, railings, pipes, eaves | Moderate near the nest |
| Eastern yellowjacket | Small (½ in), bright yellow and black, fast, stocky | Underground, often in old rodent burrows | High: defends nest in numbers |
| German yellowjacket | Like the eastern, with small black dots on the face and abdomen | Wall voids, attics, sheds, sometimes underground | High |
| Bald-faced hornet | Black with white face and markings, ¾ in | Large gray paper nest in trees, shrubs, eaves | High near the nest |
| European hornet | Large (1 in+), brown and yellow, reddish head and thorax | Hollow trees, barns, wall voids, attics | Moderate to high near the nest |
| Mud daubers | Long thin “waist,” black-and-yellow or metallic blue | Mud tubes and cells on walls, ceilings, sheds | Very low |
| Eastern cicada killer | Huge (1.5 in+), black/rust with yellow bands | Burrows in sandy or bare soil | Very low |
| Great golden digger / great black wasp | Large, orange-and-black or all black | Burrows in bare soil | Very low |
The top six rows cause nearly all wasp stings in Indiana. The rest almost never sting unless they’re grabbed or stepped on barefoot.
Indiana has a humid continental climate with cold winters and warm, humid summers. Southern Indiana along the Ohio River warms up a week or two earlier than the Fort Wayne and South Bend areas and stays warm later into the fall, so treat these dates as a general pattern.
Paper wasps (genus Polistes) build open, umbrella-shaped paper combs with the cells facing down and no outer covering. They have a slender body with a narrow waist, and their long legs dangle below them in flight. Indiana has several species:
Sting risk: Paper wasps are not aggressive away from the nest, but they will defend it. Most Indiana paper wasp stings happen when someone brushes against a hidden nest while trimming shrubs, opening a grill, or reaching under a deck rail.
Paper wasps eat caterpillars and other garden pests, so a nest in an out-of-the-way spot can be left alone. Nests near doors, walkways, or play sets are another matter. See our paper wasps complete guide, are paper wasps aggressive?, and how to get rid of paper wasps.
Yellowjackets are smaller than paper wasps (about half an inch), stocky, and boldly striped in bright yellow and black. They fly fast and in straight lines, with their legs tucked up against the body.
Indiana has several yellowjacket species. The ones homeowners meet most often are:
Why they’re the main stinging problem: By late summer, a yellowjacket colony can contain thousands of workers that defend the nest as a group. Mowing, weed-eating, or stepping near the entrance can bring out dozens of wasps at once, and unlike honey bees, yellowjackets can sting more than once.
What not to do: Never pour gasoline or other fuels into a ground nest. It’s a serious fire and contamination hazard. Don’t simply plug the hole either, since a blocked colony may dig out in a new direction.
Learn more in our yellow jackets complete guide and how to identify a yellow jacket nest.
Indiana has two very different insects called hornets.
The bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) isn’t a true hornet. It’s a large aerial yellowjacket, black with ivory-white markings on the face and the tip of the abdomen. It builds the familiar gray, football-shaped paper nest hanging from tree branches, shrubs, or eaves. Many Indiana homeowners only notice the nest in fall after the leaves drop.
Bald-faced hornets are very defensive near the nest and will chase intruders. Don’t throw rocks at a hanging nest or try to knock it down. A nest high in a tree away from where people walk can usually be left alone. The colony dies off with the hard freezes, and the empty nest won’t be reused. See the bald-faced hornet guide.
The European hornet (Vespa crabro) is the only true hornet established in Indiana. It’s large (workers about ¾ to 1 inch, queens larger), brown and yellow with a reddish-brown head and thorax. It nests in hollow trees, barns, attics, and wall voids rather than in exposed hanging nests.
Two habits help identify it:
European hornets are less aggressive than yellowjackets away from the nest but will defend it, and their sting is painful. See our hornet wasp guide for more.
No. The northern giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia, often called the “murder hornet” or Asian giant hornet) was only ever found in the Pacific Northwest, and Washington State declared it eradicated in late 2024. The big wasps Hoosiers mistake for murder hornets are almost always European hornets or eastern cicada killers. See our murder hornet guide for how to tell them apart.
Mud daubers are solitary wasps with a very long, thin waist. They don’t have a colony to defend and very rarely sting people. Indiana has three common types:
Mud daubers hunt spiders, including black widows. If a mud nest is somewhere you don’t want it, scrape it off with a putty knife. No spray is needed. See our mud daubers complete guide and mud wasp nest guide.
Indiana’s biggest wasps tend to be its least dangerous.
The eastern cicada killer (Sphecius speciosus) is up to 1.5 to 2 inches long, black to rusty with pale yellow bands on the abdomen, and amber wings. From July into August, females dig burrows in sandy or bare soil, sunny lawn edges, flower beds, and along sidewalks, leaving a U-shaped mound of loose soil at each entrance. They stock each burrow with paralyzed cicadas.
Indiana sees huge periodical cicada emergences in some years, but those cicadas come out in May and June, before cicada killers are active. Cicada killers mainly hunt the annual “dog-day” cicadas that sing every summer.
The old line is that cicada killers can’t sting, and that’s only half right. Males patrol the nesting area and buzz people aggressively, but males cannot sting. Females can sting but almost never do unless they’re handled or stepped on. See the cicada killer guide and how to identify cicada killer holes in your lawn.
Two other large solitary wasps are common on Indiana flowers in mid to late summer, especially on milkweed, mountain mint, and goldenrod:
Both are docile pollinators that rarely sting.
If you see dark, hairy wasps with bluish wings and a red-orange, yellow-spotted abdomen flying in low loops over your lawn in late summer, they’re probably blue-winged scoliid wasps (Scolia dubia). They’re hunting grubs, including Japanese beetle larvae, and they’re harmless to people. See the scoliid wasp guide.
Spider wasps are fast, dark wasps (often blue-black or orange and black) that run over the ground flicking their wings while hunting spiders. The fuzzy red-and-black “ant” sometimes seen in sandy areas of southern Indiana is actually a wingless female wasp, the eastern velvet ant or “cow killer.” Neither is aggressive, but both have a very painful sting if handled. See the spider wasp guide and velvet ant guide.
In Indiana’s woodlots and on old maples, beeches, and elms, you may spot a large wasp with what looks like a long tail. These are usually giant ichneumon wasps (Megarhyssa) or the pigeon horntail (Tremex columba). The “tail” is an egg-laying tube used to reach wood-boring larvae inside dead or dying wood, not a stinger. They don’t harm people or healthy trees. See wasp with a long tail and our wood wasp guide.
Before you spray anything, make sure it’s actually a wasp. Indiana homeowners often mistake these bees for wasps:
Our bee vs. wasp vs. hornet identification guide shows the differences side by side.
Not every nest needs to be removed. Use this approach:
For step-by-step methods, see our wasp nest removal safety guide and what wasp nest removal costs. If you’re not sure what you’re looking at, Purdue Extension has an office in every Indiana county, and Purdue’s Plant and Pest Diagnostic Laboratory can identify insects from photos or samples.
Most stings cause pain, redness, and swelling that fade within a few days. Wash the area, apply a cold pack, and take an over-the-counter antihistamine or pain reliever if needed. See what to put on a wasp sting and what a normal sting reaction looks like.
Call 911 right away if someone has trouble breathing, swelling of the face, lips, or throat, hives spreading beyond the sting site, dizziness, or a rapid pulse, or if they’ve been stung many times. These can be signs of a life-threatening allergic reaction. People with a known sting allergy should carry their prescribed epinephrine auto-injector during wasp season. For non-emergency questions, Poison Control is available 24/7 at 1-800-222-1222. See allergic reaction to a wasp sting for more.
The most common stinging wasps in Indiana are paper wasps (northern, European, and metric paper wasps), eastern and German yellowjackets, aerial yellowjackets, bald-faced hornets, and European hornets. Common solitary wasps include mud daubers, eastern cicada killers, great golden digger wasps, great black wasps, scoliid wasps, spider wasps, and velvet ants.
Wasps become active in late March and April, build up through the summer, and peak in August and September. Activity tapers off in October and usually ends with the first hard freezes between late October and mid-November, earlier in northern Indiana than in the south.
The eastern cicada killer, at up to about 2 inches long, is usually the biggest wasp Hoosiers see. Despite its size, it rarely stings. European hornet queens and giant ichneumon wasps (whose long egg-laying tube makes them look even bigger) are also large.
Yes. The European hornet is the only true hornet established in Indiana. The bald-faced hornet is also common, but it’s actually a type of yellowjacket. There are no murder hornets (northern giant hornets) in Indiana.
Paper wasp queens often spend the winter in attics, wall voids, and around window frames. On warm days in late winter and early spring, they wake up and wander inside toward windows and lights. They’re sluggish and rarely sting, but sealing gaps in early fall will reduce how many get in.
In Indiana, a large brown-and-yellow wasp hitting lit windows or porch lights on late-summer nights is very likely a European hornet. Most other wasps don’t fly after dark.
A small, exposed paper wasp nest in spring can usually be handled safely by a homeowner who takes proper precautions. Call a professional for ground or wall-void yellowjacket nests, hornet nests, nests that are large or hard to reach, or if anyone in the household is allergic to stings.
Indiana’s wasp season is shorter than the South’s, but its yellowjacket and hornet colonies grow large by late summer, and August and September are when most Hoosiers get stung. Many of the wasps you’ll see in an Indiana backyard, from mud daubers to cicada killers to scoliid wasps, are harmless or even helpful. Identify what you’re dealing with first, take care of unwanted nests early in the season, and call a professional for anything large, hidden, inside your walls, or within reach of someone with a sting allergy.
For a region-by-region overview of which wasps live where in the US, see our Wasps by State: Regional Identification & Seasonal Activity Guide. For species-by-species physical identification, see the Wasp Identification Guide.
Indiana city guides:
Related guides:
Nearby state guides: