Murder Hornets. WTF?!?

[rackmonkey]

And now for 2020’s latest kick in the sack: Murder Hornets arrive in N. America!

Read the room, 2020.

Next up: Flying sharks.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/us/asian-giant-hornet-washington.html

 

[Brian Roth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY

 

[scott2000]

Yeah I came across a bee vs video when I was looking at things after JR's battle with the yellow jackets.....

Scary things....

I used to often see some pretty giant ground hornets a couple decades ago when I used to landscape but nothing like these.  Hopefully these aren't overly aggressive towards humans like most wasps but still, that's not good for our bees... 

Time to repurpose my old tennis rackets...

 

[JohnRoberts]

I saw a piece in the newspaper about the killer hornets (asian giant hornet) and they kill bees and people (reportedly 50 annually in Japan).  Some call them giant Japanese hornets, but that is probably considered racist.... :

As if the bee population was not already under stress, or we need new ways to die.

Reportedly the northwest (Wash state?) is trying to wipe them out before they spread to rest of the country, I hope they are successful.

JR

 

[Matador]

My favorite quote: "They are known as Murder Hornets, but with a good lawyer, could be known as Manslaughter Bees."

 

[scott2000]

lol

 

[scott2000]

I've watched this guy take some bites before...Guess he tried the Japanese Hornet

Giant Hornet KNOCKS OUT Coyote!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR6RZ4ITqyw

 

[JohnRoberts]

I've watched this guy take some bites before...Guess he tried the Japanese Hornet

Giant Hornet KNOCKS OUT Coyote!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR6RZ4ITqyw

1/4" long stinger... 5 stings will kill a human.

JR

 

[scott2000]

I'm not 100% sure but I think I may have seen one of these in my garage a few minutes ago...??
My buddy who landscapes told me he's seen them before when I mentioned this thread a while ago but I just brushed it off like yeah...You don't know what I'm talking about....

I've never seen anything like it. It had huge round eyes/markings on it's face like a cartoon. He was pretty giant. I've seen bigger but maybe this was a younger one but still up there in size from the biggest I've ever seen.....

He wasn't aggressive towards me. Just flying around from place to place checking things out.. I got to my spray and tagged him pretty good and again on his way out...He never missed a beat flying and went up into a tree in front of my house. I was waiting to see him fall but nothing after several minutes.....

Probably not one but , if it drops, I'll be able to see....

Really never seen a face like that before... It was so animated looking..... Very cool looking wasp though.... Huge...

Hated to go after him but he was disappearing in different areas of the garage and I wasn't keen on him not resurfacing....

They can't be here??

 

[rackmonkey]

You're in Florida, right? If it was flying low and fast, but in a smooth trajectory, it was probably a cicada killer wasp. We have those all over the southern US. I used to kill them out of the air with tennis rackets as a kid. They are frighteningly large - up to an inch and a half to two inches long. But they look worse than they sting. In fact, the sting is amongst the mildest among wasp types. I know, because I've been stung several times messing with them (all younger than the age of 15 or so).

See pic attached. Did it look like that? They do go up into the trees to hunt their prey (cicadas!)

Wings so big they sound like drones flying by!

 

[scott2000]

No. Wasn't that at all. This one had a really bright yellow face and body... All black and yellow. Really didn't see any brown......and his eyes were large and black....or markings around eyes....

Yeah we have a lot of big ground wasps and hornets that are large...Some larger than this thing I saw but, like I said maybe it was younger???

IDK.... It had such a cute animated face...It was weird..... Just looked at you like it was a smiley face......

He flew kinda random but, he had come from outside somewhere and obviously out of his element... It did like to land on everything though which was weird to me...He'd fly to something and check it out...then fly to another section and check it out....Very calm mannerisms...

I was brave enough to get in my cabinet with the spray because I knew he'd be preoccupied after he landed even though he was a few feet from me.....



looking online it resemble closest to a yellow jacket too I guess...... They don't get giant size though do they??? Hmmm...need to look more....


Could've been a social wasp? awe.... shoot......

IDK.... just that face was really bizarre.... Never seen one like that...... it was ridiculous looking....  I'm not convinced either way.. hopefully it wasn't one of those killers....

 

[rackmonkey]

Well, you got me then. Not a murder hornet, because they are more orange and black than yellow and black. I doubt they would travel that far at this point, anyway.

You might look up a Florida wasps and hornets site and see what you find.

 

[scott2000]

Yeah I edited my previous reply a bit......

but it was definitely yellow and black...... no orange I could see

 

[rackmonkey]

“Smiley faced wasp”

https://bugguide.net/node/view/1555956

http://www.bugphotos.net/disp.php?g=Vespidae

 

[scott2000]

I really don't think it was any of those but idk....it was really fat and large....A whole bunch of yellow with smaller black markings....

I guess similar to the eastern yellow jacket but the black wasn't nearly as pronounced...... And all the yellow jackets I've seen are pretty small.... This was definitely one of the bigger types I've seen.... maybe yellow jackets do get huge? I just looked and can't find info saying they do yet...but it was closest to a yellow jacket.....but it was big and fat....  at least an inch and a quarter long...

here's a yellow jacket pic that looks close face wise anyhow

 

[cyrano]

Start an account on inaturalist.org. Upload pic.

I haven't encountered a species of plant or animal the people on inaturalist couldn't identify...

It's a NatGeo and uni of california joint venture.

 

[scott2000]

Interesting ! I've never heard of that site. Thanks!

Unfortunately I don't have a picture.  I did think about running inside to get my phone when it settled the first time and was looking at me (or at least looked like it was) but this thing was right where my door inside from the garage was after it started exploring and I would've had to run around to the back of the house to get inside to my phone because I wasn't about to try getting past it. I made the decision to just get rid of it and was hoping it would just fall instantly but it didn't even seem phased when I sprayed it. But I've only ever sprayed regular wasps so maybe the bigger types can handle it better.

Looking more online all I can guess that maybe it was a queen yellow jacket as they do get bigger, up to an inch. I could've sworn this thing was larger though but could've been my fear or something. Not a fan of wasps and hornets up close. Had a bad experience when I was younger with a hornets nest.

I didn't put this together at the time but, a few days ago, while in my backyard, a giant, I thought bumblebee was getting close to me and I was a bit freaked but it went away. Then ,a day or two later, I was in my bedroom and a large wasp hit the bedroom window several times . I got a quick enough  look at it to see it wasn't a bumblebee and saw it disappear up  towards the eves of the house but pretty sure it didn't go anywhere inside. I went outside to look and didn't see anything that would make me think that anyway.....

Just a weird coincidence that now I see this big thing in my garage.... I'm suspicious it's related somehow.... It really was a larger type I'm convinced.  But it wasn't particularly aggressive at least. Very calm acting and deliberate moving if that makes any sense. Usually when I see wasps or hornets inside an unfamiliar area they act chaotic trying to escape....

 

[cyrano]

It's size and behaviour could indeed suggest a queen wasp.

I don't have any beef with wasps. Hornets, OTOH...

Hornets are sometimes aggressive without being provoked. I once had to dive into a fen to avoid a small swarm of hornets. I could see the swarm from some distance and was already avoiding them when all of a sudden they spotted me and came directly at me. I have been stung by hornets a few times, enough to be aware of their behaviour. Fortunately, our local hornets are nothing compared to the giant asian ones.

 

[keefaz]

Yellow hornets have been introduced in France a while ago, there's nothing we could do to eradicate them  :-\
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=warcmxvDKoM

 

[scott2000]

Yeah hornets suck imo...  The link says they're Asian hornets....is this true??

Here's a nice yellow jacket nest..... ..

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2013/06/25/giant-yellow-jacket-nest-destroyed-in-florida.html