Wasp

The Wasp (known as the Bee prior to ) is a harmful bug in the introduced in. Wasps are found in trees, when shaken, and they will chase the player and sting them if not caught in time. If stung, the player's left eye swells. In, if the player is stung by another wasp while still swollen, they will pass out and be returned to their house. If they are on a Mystery Island and they are stung twice, they will return to Wilbur at the dock. Wasps will temporarily stop chasing the player and circle around if the player is talking to a villager or special character, looking at their pockets or phone, and looking at their emotes. Attempting to sit on an item while being chased by wasps is disabled.

If multiplayer is active, harmful bugs, including Wasps, will not appear. In, , and , if the player's gates are open, they will similarly not appear.

The player can be healed either with medicine or by simply saving and ending the game. Villagers will remark on a stung player's appearance if the player has been stung, with normal villagers reacting in fright or concern and snooty villagers chiding the player for that attack (adding insult to injury); while cranky villagers can outright laugh at the player. In, big sister villagers will act concerned for the player, and will give them medicine if they are stung, even if the villager is currently sick. While in any villager can give the player medicine, though it's not always guaranteed they will do so. Sometimes, multiple villagers can give the player medicine if the player hasn't taken any yet. If a Wasp Nest falls from a tree and the player goes to talk to a villager, the villager will notice the wasps in the air and say something in fear such as, "Get away from me!"

In
The Bee can be found flying from tree to tree along the back wall of the museum's insect exhibit.

In
Upon being donated, the Bee can be found in the room of the bug exhibit with the light in, flying around and resting on a tree in the back. The exhibit has this to say about the Bee:

In
Upon donating the wasp to the museum the curator, Blathers, will say the following:

Prior to
Apis cerana japonica, the Asiatic honey bee, is a hardy species of bee that originates from South-Eastern Asia. It is used commercially for its honey, despite having a smaller yield than its European counterpart, Apis mellifera. Mellifera has, however, been subject to selective breeding for many centuries, greatly increasing honey output over the years.

It is unknown whether the Wasp in the Animal Crossing series is meant to be based on the Asiatic honey bee or Vespa mandarinia, the Japanese giant hornet, as the bee's Japanese name, hachi, can refer to both bees and wasps interchangeably. The Bee's in-game design in and  is more similar to the Japanese giant hornet, and the beehives seen in-game bear closer resemblance to a hornet's nest than to a real-world honeycomb, while in, the insect's design is closer to a European paper wasp, a species more widely recognized as a wasp rather than a bee outside of Japan.

In
Polistes dominula, the European paper wasp, is a species of wasp that originates from Europe, North Africa, and southeast and eastern Asia. Like the Asiatic honey bee, the European paper wasp is a social species, congregating in large hives composed of numerous interlinked hexagonal cells similar to a honeycomb; rather than being made from natural wax, however, these hives are constructed of paper, created by chewing wood into pulp and spitting it out, hence the name "paper wasp." A special protein in the wasps' saliva toughens and waterproofs the pulp, allowing the hives to maintain shapes like that seen in the Animal Crossing series and ensuring greater protection from predators. Paper wasps are known to be more docile than other wasps, such as yellowjackets and hornets, and do not sting unless provoked or their nest is under threat.