The Giant AsIan Hornet

[Three44s]

The Giant Asian Hornet has been found in Vancouver Island and an individual insect of the species was found near Blaine Wa. this past December.

This insect will be a game changer for the already struggling honey bees and for folks that like to enjoy the outdoors.:roll:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=American+Giant+Hornet&view=detail&mid=25AA127A882027CB5B7C25AA127A882027CB5B7C&FORM=VIRE

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/23/us/asian-giant-hornet-washington-state-scn-trnd/index.html

Three44s

[StuBach]

Well that’s terrifying...almost 2inch long hornet that likes to kill honey bees and humans....video of them blowing up the one nest was cool though.

[dangitgriff]

They never tamed the giant hornet like we tamed our wild mustangs. Could’ve been a game-changer for them Asians!

[bullet maker 57]

Just what we need here. I'm allergic to bees, to begin with. I hope I never run into one of those monsters.

[NSB]

Just what we need here. I'm allergic to bees, to begin with. I hope I never run into one of those monsters.

I've already seen them twice here in WNY. I tried to kill one with hornet spray and it just flew away. It so big, it looks like a small humming bird flying around. The first thing you notice is the color....not like our "normal" hornets. We also have Weevil wasps in our southern tier since 2016. They've been migrating north and are being tracked as they expand. They're very small and their sting isn't too bad, but they fly around by the thousands. I started noticing them when I kept getting stung when putting in our spring crop on our food plots. Once the plots start coming up they seem to move somewhere else. They like to hover over bare ground looking for food.

[Texas by God]

Our Tarantula Hawks down here are twice that big. Luckily they aren't aggressive. As a kid I once had the pleasure of watching one drag a small Tarantula into its hole in the ground. It took him a while.

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[Three44s]

Not that I “like” that this hornet is different (worse) but my understanding is the the species that has arrived here on the west coast is different than the one that is in parts of the eastern US.

There are so many different species that it is hard to keep them all straight. The Asian Hornet that is raising cobb in France and is suspected to have invaded the British Isles is not the hornet that we are now “blessed” with. Asian Hornet vs. Giant Asian Hornet.

Whether the Asian Hornet has entered the US already is something I do not know but I can say that the European Hornet has and it is a whopper.

The Giant Asian Hornet they found here in Washington State is the nastiest of the bunch. It has the nick name “Yak Killer” and if you blunder into it’s nest you are in big trouble, allergic or not.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornet

Three44s

[Tripplebeards]

I was fascinated with bugs when I was a kid. The last two years my raspberries I have more bees on them that usual. There’s been one big hornet with a yellowish orange head I’ve never seen before that looks like this that had to be 2 plus inches long that would come and go. I tried to catch him a few times but he wasn’t having it. So my guess is they’re in Wisconsin already(or one). If not there’s a hornet around here I’ve never seen before that looks just like it. I would say it had to been 3/4 of the length of my pointer finger.

[BigAlofPa.]

My son and i came across some one night in the woods. They were attracted to our flashlights. Didn't know what kind of bee/wasp they were at the time.

[Three44s]

Do they make #9 shot for a .410 shotgun? Could make a sport out of hunting the bastids.

If you stir up a nest they run from 500 to 1000 hornets by Sept./Oct. and swarm en mass. Each one stings over and over with a venom that is much worse than anything we have ever had here in North America.

The venom creates craters in your tissue that are permenant and with some number of stings causes liver damage.

With honey bees they have timed an individual hornet killing 40 bees a minute. Two hornets were shown to wipe out a entire colony is a few hours. The Japanese honey bee has a special defense to the Asian hornets but not our bees.

Three44s

[Three44s]

I was fascinated with bugs when I was a kid. The last two years my raspberries I have more bees on them that usual. There’s been one big hornet with a yellowish orange head I’ve never seen before that looks like this that had to be 2 plus inches long that would come and go. I tried to catch him a few times but he wasn’t having it. So my guess is they’re in Wisconsin already(or one). If not there’s a hornet around here I’ve never seen before that looks just like it. I would say it had to been 3/4 of the length of my pointer finger.

That sounds like the European Hornet.

Three44s

[jonp]

I saw kidney damage and death as a side effect. That was kinda disturbing looking up what that hornet is. Pretty cool the way the Japanese Honey Bees defend against them, though. Cover one in a giant ball and beat their wings raising the CO2 level and the temp until the hornet dies. The CNN story is incorrect on how the bee's defend but it's CNN so what do you expect.

[Tripplebeards]

That sounds like the European Hornet.

Three44s



I just googled the European hornet it didn’t look anything like it. It had a big dull colored orange head. It was pretty persistent. I would catch him sitting on my hostas sunny him self in the morning just about every other day. I tried to catch him several times and he would just zing Back and forth like he lived in my hostas and kept coming back. I was catching hornets at the time to feed my Pac-Man frog. I was cutting the tail/stingers off of them so they wouldn’t sting my frog. I also put the little jars of hornets I caught in the freezer for a few minutes to put them to sleep before I put them in his cage because I didn’t want them flying in my house. If it wasn’t an Asian hornet it’s an identical match in color and size. I remember watching a couple videos of these bees a few years prior on YouTube attacking other bees and killing them which threw a flag when I saw it.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

A tennis racket might be a good defensive weapon..........! :-D

[trapper9260]

Sound like snake shot with #9 shot will be some thing to keep on hand . That the thing with reloading we can do .Not just for snakes for the shot shell. That is how it looks.

[Tripplebeards]

I wouldn’t want to get stung by one...

https://youtu.be/i7VMcMJBjD4

[dangitgriff]

Wonder if the Asian and European varieties can cross-breed and result in an Eurasian hornet?

[Three44s]

My son and i came across some one night in the woods. They were attracted to our flashlights. Didn't know what kind of bee/wasp they were at the time.

It is claimed that the European Hornet will operate at night.

Three44s

[Three44s]

I just googled the European hornet it didn’t look anything like it. It had a big dull colored orange head. It was pretty persistent. I would catch him sitting on my hostas sunny him self in the morning just about every other day. I tried to catch him several times and he would just zing Back and forth like he lived in my hostas and kept coming back. I was catching hornets at the time to feed my Pac-Man frog. I was cutting the tail/stingers off of them so they wouldn’t sting my frog. I also put the little jars of hornets I caught in the freezer for a few minutes to put them to sleep before I put them in his cage because I didn’t want them flying in my house. If it wasn’t an Asian hornet it’s an identical match in color and size. I remember watching a couple videos of these bees a few years prior on YouTube attacking other bees and killing them which threw a flag when I saw it.

http://www.planetepassion.eu/wildlife-in-france/asian-hornet_vespa-velutina-nigrithorax_frelon%20asiatique_france.html

Perhaps this one?

Three44s

[Three44s]

A tennis racket might be a good defensive weapon..........! :-D


Swing to kill! Don’t baby them!

Three44s

[dagger dog]

Swing to kill! Don’t baby them!

Three44s

I would feel more confident with some 22 rimfire birdshot.:Fire:

[Duckiller]

There is a reason that God made DDT.

[Tripplebeards]

http://www.planetepassion.eu/wildlife-in-france/asian-hornet_vespa-velutina-nigrithorax_frelon%20asiatique_france.html

Perhaps this one?

Three44s


No, it’s head looked the exact same color is the Asian hornet. It’s stuck out like a sore thumb when I saw it. Are there any hornets that have a dull solid orange head like it?

It almost reminded me of a killer cicada wasp I found a picture of one with an orange head and it says it gets to an inch and a half body. It would make sense since I have cicadas here. I remember the dull orange and black abdomen as well like the photo. It might’ve been one of these on steroids, you can see a picture here...

https://www.rosepestcontrol.com/pest/cicada-killer-wasp/

[Three44s]

I do not know.

But I can predict that you do not have the Yak Killer yet because it is said to kill an average of 40 Japanese annually.

If that were well established here already it would be all over the news.

Best regards

Three44s

[Mr_Sheesh]

A recoilless rifle should suffice.

[popper]

Imported by all the Chinese spys in Vancouver.

[Three44s]

A wing of Phantoms loaded with napalm.

Three44s

[cwlongshot]

Crazy,

Bet a boat load of fun with a game getter and 22 rf Shot!! ;)

CW

[dverna]

You do not want to piss them off. Use enough gun. .44 or .45 with as much #9 shot as they will hold.

[Surculus]

Our Tarantula Hawks down here are twice that big. Luckily they aren't aggressive. As a kid I once had the pleasure of watching one drag a small Tarantula into its hole in the ground. It took him a while.


Her. The male tarantula wasp doesn't do any heavy lifting in that species; only the females hunt the tarantulas and drag them home to lay their eggs on, which then hatch & feed on the (still living) spider... Just an FYI.

[Texas by God]

Correction noted and appreciated. Do you know of any occurrence of a human being stung by one? I have never heard of it. I have worked in Ditches where they were and had them swarming all about my face. Other than making me extremely nervous, they never laid a foot or Stinger on me thank goodness.


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[Three44s]

Crazy,

Bet a boat load of fun with a game getter and 22 rf Shot!! ;)

CW

You will need quick reflexes. They have been clocked at 25 mph. It is estimated that a colony by Fall numbers between 500 and 1000 hornets, they attack anything disturbing their nest full on. They pursue their victims over 200 yds.

I would suggest watching the video of the guy that got himself stung on purpose and then decide if shooting them with a 22 rimfire with bird shot or any firearm for that matter seems reasonable.

Three44s

[Tripplebeards]

I can remember when I was a kid there was a big giant paper wasp nest in an old wood shed on my buddies property. We flipped a quarter and I got to shoot. I shot that nest with 7 1/2 shot and it literally disappeared. The nest had to be about 2 feet or so in diameter and I was about 10 yards away from it. Needless to say I didn’t stick around to see if the bees were coming at me I ran about two blocks up into his house with my buddy trailing behind. We luckily never got stung.

The last time I saw a bunch of bees I was predator hunting in Arizona. I sat out my caller and started calling and saw something shiny hanging from a tree about the size of a garbage can about 50 yards away. I walked up to it and got with about 10 yards. It was the coolest site I’ve ever seen! It was a big giant swarm of bees that all landed on each other. They looked like honeybees... Remind me of some of the killer African honeybees horror shows. There had been thousands of them piled on each other. ...so cool! I wish I would’ve had a camera with at the time. I’m curious at what would cause them to pile on each other like that. The swarm was probably a good 10 to 12 feet in the air swarmed on What looked like a couple of tree branches. It kind a look like when a beekeeper has bees that have landed all over him. Hopefully they were honeybees and are still around. There aren’t enough pollinators in the world.

[Three44s]

That is a swarm of honey bees. They have either outgrown their accommodations or the colony split due to an extra queen departing with her workers, etcetra.

Down in that country they could be “Africanized” and that is dangerous to be close to them as they are unpredictable unlike true domesticated honey bees which are quite docile.

We are on the brink of a serious crisis with our bees. The colony decline has caused a lot of finger pointing but little progress. It seems that there are a whole lot of arm chair experts getting in on the prognostication industry around the issue and good chemicals are being blamed for the bee’s crisis and many have been outlawed.

I serve on a County Farm Bureau Board and one of our fellow board members is one of the more pre-eminent bee keepers in our State before he retired. He still grows fruit so he sees both sides of the issue, needing bees and needing well managed pesticides to be available for growers.

It is a pleasure serving with him and gaining his insight.

Three44s

[Surculus]

Correction noted and appreciated. Do you know of any occurrence of a human being stung by one? I have never heard of it. I have worked in Ditches where they were and had them swarming all about my face. Other than making me extremely nervous, they never laid a foot or Stinger on me thank goodness.

Oddly enough, I just read an article recently about the most painful stinging insects; the exec summary is the title is held in a tie: the tarantula wasp wins for outright immediate pain [the article read something like "just lie down & scream for 5 minutes: you can't do anything to help, and then it'll be over"] and the S. American bullet ant [which has a painful sting that just does not STOP!] The rest of the article expands upon that difference & what environmental & evolutionary f/x may have led to the difference. (Bottom line: the wasp wants whatever attacked it to stop RIGHT NOW, while the ant doesn't care, it wants the attacker to remember all of its sistren are off limits, even if the ant itself dies...)

The author stated he'd been stung once by a tarantula wasp, by the simple expedient of demonstrating how the males [which are smaller] generally don't sting (& then unfortunately grabbing an atypically small female wasp off the bush! Oops...)

[Surculus]

We are on the brink of a serious crisis with our bees. The colony decline has caused a lot of finger pointing but little progress. It seems that there are a whole lot of arm chair experts getting in on the prognostication industry around the issue and good chemicals are being blamed for the bee’s crisis and many have been outlawed.

Actually, it's been determined quite definitively that the cause of CCD is neonicotinoid (typically, systemic) insecticides. [Like Monsanto & other big seed co.'s use on the seeds they sell to make the plants survive early predation & on thru harvest.] This causes decreased lifespans of winter bees and the colony can't survive the cold. The commercial apiaries will probably have to start wintering their hives in southern Mexico & Central America so the hive has no need of winter bees. Of course, then they'll just have to get used to working w/ Africanized bees, since they're endemic there & will ultimately contaminate the commercial hives...

[Texas by God]

I am so lucky to be non allergic to insect venom because I get stung many times a year by wasps, bees, fire ants and bark scorpions. A full grown scorpion lights me up like 120 volts[emoji852]

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[Three44s]

Actually, it's been determined quite definitively that the cause of CCD is neonicotinoid (typically, systemic) insecticides. [Like Monsanto & other big seed co.'s use on the seeds they sell to make the plants survive early predation & on thru harvest.] This causes decreased lifespans of winter bees and the colony can't survive the cold. The commercial apiaries will probably have to start wintering their hives in southern Mexico & Central America so the hive has no need of winter bees. Of course, then they'll just have to get used to working w/ Africanized bees, since they're endemic there & will ultimately contaminate the commercial hives...

Well, with all due respect the retired bee keeper/still active orchardist says NO to the neo-nics that you are claiming are the issue in colony decline that I am very well acquainted with.

If your claim that keeping the bees warm year around had any validity then why did the practice of using a controlled atmosphere fruit cold storage room to store over wintering hives that HE helped pioneer work well?

To understand what is at the root of honey bee colony collapse one needs to begin here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varroa_destructor

Are there other factors? Yes, there are other stress factors but we are not going to eliminate pesticides altogether and solve the bee problem. However, if we do stop using pesticides we are going to be in a world of hurt because of gross food shortages.



The left seems driven to remove any thing that kills a pest from the market and the opposition to the Neo nicotine class of insecticides are in their cross hairs quite wrongly according my friend. The left will dream up and write anything about what it is opposed to to “win” but the fact is my friend and his wife are even in retirement a STAUNCH advocates for bee health and expert on the subject. I think of bees in terms of number of colonies, they count them in terms of semi-loads, double digits of semi loads!

They recently sold their business to a young person who worked for them for years and yet they still travel extensively across the globe to further the business of bees. So ....When they talk bees, I take it to the bank!

Three44s

[Geezer in NH]

There is a reason that God made DDT.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DDT is not as bad as the start up greenies made it.

[Winger Ed.]

[QUOTE=Three44s We are on the brink of a serious crisis with our bees. The colony decline has caused a lot of finger pointing but little progress. [/QUOTE]

It seems the little rascals have more than one thing going against them besides pesticides.

I was hanging out with my buddy at the feed store awhile back.
A fella came in, picked up a special order, in a small paper sack, paid about $400, and left.
I was shocked. I thought you'd need a truck & trailer to spend that much at the feed store in one trip.

After he left, I asked what that was he got.
My buddy told me he was a bee keeper, and it was some sort of medicine for a fungus something sort of infection in his hives.

[Tripplebeards]

I am so lucky to be non allergic to insect venom because I get stung many times a year by wasps, bees, fire ants and bark scorpions. A full grown scorpion lights me up like 120 volts[emoji852]

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I can still remember predator calling in a wash when I was out in AZ years ago. I never saw what stung my hands through my thin gloves But it felt like little bee stings. I pushed my knuckles down into the sand to stabilize myself when I stood up and got stung. Later that day both hands swelled up like red pumpkins! They ached from the swelling and skin stretching and also itched at the same time. The swelling made them ache. Moving my fingers I could feel some resistance from my swollen skin. Other than the swelling I felt fine. I probably should have took some Benadryl. I was helping my buddy do some construction the next day and a nail poked one of my hands where it was swelled. It looked like a horror movie! Blood shooting out of my hand in a stream. I can tell you it felt soooo good when it happened as it relieved the pressure. I actually let the blood cone out for a while till I could move my fingers freely again. It took a few days for the swelling to go away on the other hand. I’m guessing maybe ants did this? Maybe it was a bee, wasp, or scorpion under the sand? I have no clue as I never saw what stung me that was buried in the sand. I even dug around in the sand after it happened and didn’t see anything in it.

Any clue what my mystery stinger was?

This is what my hand looked like...

https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/injuries-and-poisoning/bites-and-stings/bee,-wasp,-hornet,-and-ant-stings


I just remembered I put some ice on them for a couple of days and then the swelling finally went down.

[Winger Ed.]

Any clue what my mystery stinger was?.

Sure sounds like a bad reaction to a classic wasp sting.
Some brands of them even make nests in the ground.
But I sure figure you'd have seen at least one get out of the dirt and try to hit ya again.

[Tripplebeards]

At the time I was thinking maybe some old scorpion tails broken off in the dirt. I almost remember more than one zap in my knuckles as well. I would have though I would have dug up at least one ant or wasp when I dug into the sand. It was very lose sand. I dug over a foot deep looking for the culprits. I probably should’ve went in and got my hands checked but at that time I was in the whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger stage. I never had any other symptoms other than swollen aching, itching hands so I wasn’t too worried at the time.

From all the reading I’m going to guess it was a wasp? Are there little black micro looking wasps out there with a little white lines in their abdomens? I swear I almost saw some of those out in that area that day. They were as tiny as a small ant if I remember. I’m wondering if that might’ve been the culprit and if they live underground?

[Gregorious]

http://www.rural-revolution.com/search/label/Hornets

Method of killing them/

[Three44s]

Kill shot!

Me likes it!

Three44s

[Three44s]

Tripplebeards,

I haven’t a clue what you tangled with there except it was a miserable deal!

Three44s

[Tripplebeards]

I still think it was broken off scorpion tails. I found a few laying on the sand further down the wash that trip. I had Popeye hands for almost a week.

[Three44s]

Back in the news!

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

The race is on to exterminate this dangerous invading pest before it can become established. At least they can geo track it (it is large enough to carry a miniature tracker).

Three44s

[quilbilly]

Apparently you don't have to be allergic for them to kill you. The venom they inject attacks red blood cells which leads to the kidney and liver problems. It read like rattlesnake venom on steroids. The reports I have read said that it only takes about five of them to sting you to kill you if you don't get the anti-venom quick. Now I really have a good excuse to keep my 45/410 barrel on my Contender and look around for shells with #9 shot. I haven't yet read how/where they nest. Hopefully they don't go after my beloved mason bees.
There is only 15 miles of water between me and them so far.

[shooterg]

Japanese beetles, kudzu, killer hornets, Asian flu, Wuhan flu . There's a theme in there somewhere..

[brassrat]

261732

[Three44s]

Apparently you don't have to be allergic for them to kill you. The venom they inject attacks red blood cells which leads to the kidney and liver problems. It read like rattlesnake venom on steroids. The reports I have read said that it only takes about five of them to sting you to kill you if you don't get the anti-venom quick. Now I really have a good excuse to keep my 45/410 barrel on my Contender and look around for shells with #9 shot. I haven't yet read how/where they nest. Hopefully they don't go after my beloved mason bees.
There is only 15 miles of water between me and them so far.

They nest in the ground and have been known to have colonies estimated as large as 500+.

Even if WSDA and USDA can wipe them out, which I doubt .... What is the Canadian Gov doing about it?

I don’t think a GE Mini Gun with bird shot can cover a 360 degree approach. They are not “B17’s”, at 20-25 MPH I would compare them F22s. Also they are not a one trick pony like a honey bee. They sting multiple times and also attack from their ground nest at night.

I am in Central WA, about “three tanks of gas” away.

Three44s

[Three44s]

More:

https://a-z-animals.com/animals/asian-giant-hornet/

The article is a ways down from “beautiful face” shot ....

Three44s

[snowwolfe]

European hornets love light. During the summer they dive bomb outside light fixtures till they kill themselves. We always find a dozen or so dead in the AM on the front porch or driveway. They will also fly into a campfire.

For you that are positive you are seeing Asian hornets. You would be doing the world a favor and catch some alive or dead and turn them over to your state for positive ID.

[Three44s]

That is what the folks that are seeing them are doing, turning them over. But the search is greater than that. The Federal and State Departments of AG are enlisting first bee keepers and second, interested citizens to trap for the invasive hornet.

I pray they are 100% successful but know that it is virtually an impossible task given the terrain and sheer area involved given this is NW Washington State and SW British Columbia and Vancouver Island.

Three44s

[Mr_Sheesh]

Just take off and nuke the site from orbit :p

[Three44s]

Napalm!

Three44s

[quilbilly]

It reads like even our local black bears will have a problem with them.

[Three44s]

It reads like even our local black bears will have a problem with them.

I had not thought about that!

They say the invading hornet will likely take out our native predator hornets, yellow jackets and wasps and the bears and raccoons feed on them so when they try to crack open the Giant Asian Hornet nests that 1/4” professional grade dinger of theirs loaded with poisonous snake grade venom will pose a real hazzard to those unsuspecting critters.

Three44s

[snowwolfe]

Ironic how much of a disaster they are supposed to be to the USA. But haven't they been living in Japan for centuries?

[gwpercle]

I still think it was broken off scorpion tails. I found a few laying on the sand further down the wash that trip. I had Popeye hands for almost a week.

Could an animal that prey's on scorpions be near ... like Owls , Bats , Shrews or Grasshopper Mice , if so they could have eaten the scorpions bodies and left the tail - stinger lying on the sand ... ?
Strange experience for sure ... glad you came out OK ...
Gary

[quilbilly]

Ironic how much of a disaster they are supposed to be to the USA. But haven't they been living in Japan for centuries?
On this continent, nothing is adapted to defending against them. There is a ripple effect to exotic species appearing like the introduction of grass carp that were supposedly vegetarians.

[Three44s]

Ironic how much of a disaster they are supposed to be to the USA. But haven't they been living in Japan for centuries?

Your point is well taken but there are differences in societies that need to be taken into account.

I believe we in the United States take to the outdoors more aggressively than folks in many countries. The Giant Asian Hornet is at its worst in September and October.

We should ponder that timing.

The nests are in old tree trunks but most often in the ground and the colony size averages 700. They are most aggressive in that Sept/October window but still by our standards quite agressive earlier during the nesting season.

We are seeing articles now diminishing the nature and impact of this accidental escape but I believe the Entimologists being quoted are just trying to pacify us because they know how nearly impossible it will be to wipe them out here in the US.

Three44s