What animal group includes bees, wasps, and ants?

The animal group that includes bees, wasps, and ants is Hymenoptera.

Hymenoptera is an insect order whose name comes from Ancient Greek words meaning “membrane” and “wing.” It also includes sawflies and wood wasps, although bees, wasps, and ants are its most familiar members. More than 150,000 living hymenopteran species have been described.

The order contains enormous biological variety. Bees are important pollinators, many wasps are predators or parasitoids, and ants form highly organized social colonies. In many species, the female’s egg-laying structure, called an ovipositor, evolved into a defensive or prey-capturing sting.

A common mix-up is confusing Hymenoptera with other large insect orders. Lepidoptera contains butterflies and moths, Coleoptera contains beetles, and Diptera contains true flies. Bees, wasps, and ants are united by their shared evolutionary placement in Hymenoptera, even though their lifestyles differ dramatically.