Wasp

The wasp (known as the bee prior to ) is a bug in the that has appeared in every game to date. It can be found at any time of the day or year, and is one of the many harmful bugs in the series, alongside the tarantula and the scorpion. If multiplayer is active or the player's gates are open, harmful bugs, including wasps, will not appear.

In the games that the wasp appears in, it is only found when a wasp nest drops when shaking a tree on some occasions. When this occurs, wasps will chase after the player and sting them if not caught in time. A player cannot attempt to sit on a chair or lay on a bed while being chased by wasps. The player can use a party popper to scatter the wasps away. 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, looking at their emotes, or being underneath an arch. 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!"

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 the front of their house. If they are on a Mystery Island or on Kapp'n's boat tour islands and they are stung twice, they will return to the front of the island. The player can be healed with medicine, given by other villagers, bought for Bells 400 (Bells 1200 in ), or made by crafting (only in ). The player could also save and end their game to remove the swelled eye, though this is not possible in. Villagers will remark on the stung player's appearance, 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 New Horizons, if the player wears a certain type of glasses while stung, villagers will not comment on the sting.

In
"OWWWW! I got stung by a bee..."

- The player after being stung by bees

In
"I got stung by BEES! Ow! Ow ow ow ow!"

- The player after being stung by bees

In
"I got stung by a bee! Ow! Ow ow ow!"

- The player after being stung by bees

In
"Ow! Ow ow ow... I got stung by bees!"

- The player after being stung by bees

In
"Ow! Ow ow ow... I got stung by wasps!"

- The player after being stung by wasps

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.