Although yellow jackets and other wasps do look pretty similar, there’s a difference in their color variation. While the former has a yellow and black appearance, the color of the other kind of wasps varies from red to orange or blue. Other key differences are; they nest in different places, have different body shapes, and behave in very different ways. Yellow jackets are predatory social wasps belonging to the Vespula and Dolichovespula genuses. On the other hand, wasps in the Pepsis genus (the spider wasps) are typically solitary and non-aggressive wasps.