Giant Wasp

[Pine Strip]

For my part of the country...this is a supersized GMO Wasp!



Enjoy from a safe distance

 

[Midniteoyl]

That IS big..

 

[Mud Mechanik]

I bet that fella could hurt ya.

 

[jinman]

Cicada Killer wasp, I think. Yellow hashmarks on tail and size give it away. If it buzzes louder than a humming bird, it's surely a Cicada Killer.

 

[rekees4300]

Cicada Killer wasp, I think. Yellow hashmarks on tail and size give it away. If it buzzes louder than a humming bird, it's surely a Cicada Killer.

Yes that's what it is. Killed one in the garage last year. Took 1/2 can of wasp/hornet killer to bring that bad boy down!

 

[Wombat125]

I had one of those stuck in the grill of my truck a couple weeks ago. I think it reduced my fuel economy a bit.

 

[Baby Grand]

We had one flying around the potato field, yesterday.
Poor thing was carrying a cicada and looking for her burrow, which we had just (apparently) destroyed in the process of digging up our potatoes.
She flew around with that huge bug in her arms for at least 5 minutes - I couldn't believe she could even maintain altitude with that payload.
They are about the least aggressive wasp you could ever hope to encounter. They will buzz us if we are near one of their burrows, but they never get really close.

Around here they are considered "friendlies" and enjoy life in the no kill zone.

 

[cqaigy2]

Whoa! I'd for sure, go the other way if i saw that coming.

 

[bigtiller]

I wondered what they were called. I see them on my walks this time of year usually around landscaping bricks.

 

[jinman]

They are about the least aggressive wasp you could ever hope to encounter. They will buzz us if we are near one of their burrows, but they never get really close.

Around here they are considered "friendlies" and enjoy life in the no kill zone.

Absolutely. They look big and bad but are extremely non-aggressive, but also extremely curious. They fly around you at about 2' to 3' above the ground and people think that's them on an attack path. Actually it is, because they are looking for cicadas emerging from the ground. They could not care less about you and might not even sting you if you picked one up and held it. I've heard their sting is not bad to humans, but deadly to cicadas. They will labor forever to drag a cicada to one of their tunnels. I love watching them and consider them flying around me about like I consider humming birds doing the same. They are beautiful and great fun to watch.

 

[Pine Strip]

Muhammad Ali - "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hands can't hit what the eyes can't see."

 

[Pine Strip]

Wyo Wasp ....Not a Nickels Worth of Difference...or is that a Quarter ?

 

[grnspot110]

Harmless!!!

 

[cqaigy2]

Thanks for the info on the wasp Jim.:thumbsup:

 

[timster2]

Get them every year in the lawn. They look nasty but never had a bad encounter with one. They are impressive hauling a payload of cicadas to their burrow. When you first see one you think it is a giant yellow jacket and run like ****. They will buzz you but never seem to attack anything but cicadas.

 

[k0ua]

Good to know.. I will refrain, from whacking them.

 

[Wombat125]

Wyo Wasp ....Not a Nickels Worth of Difference...or is that a Quarter ?

That would be a quarter. It was a whopper.

I'm inclined to leave them alone as well, but that stinger really looks like it could do a number on you.

A couple years ago I got nervous about a colony of black wasps living under my deck, so I wiped them out one morning while they were all cold and lethargic. Then I read that they are very passive, and that their primary prey is black widow spiders. I still feel bad about killing them all.

 

[DeanKC]

We have small wasps that live in the ground in large colonies. Name for them around here is "Ginny wasps". Step on their home and you get 8-12 stings within a half second. Very painful. Had to rush a dog to the vet when she made that mistake.

 

[tractchores]

Think i saw one of these shortly after reading the post. It was digging a hole and was 3-4" long. I left it alone, ive never seen such a big wasp

 

[Depmandog]

They do make quite a mess in a manicured lawn. The elderly neighbor lady just hates them. For several years she would call me about this time of year to dispatch as many as I could. I kept telling her they are harmless. But they scared her and she didn't like the numerous dirt piles.