OK so I’m sitting at my desk today trying to figure out somehow to get some interviews and get a web deisgn job. If only something would just show itself and I would recognize it as my big opportunity and take advantage of it.
So then while working at my desk in the basement rewriting my resume I hear this loud buzzing flying around me in the dark. With only a desk lamp on I turn on more lights to see what it is. Almost sounded like a hummingbird but more like a bee flying around. When I turned the light on this is what I saw:
Click for larger images of these giant bees
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I captured him in a cd spindle cover so to scale this bee he looks to be about one third the size of a CD. That’s a big ass yellow jacket bee.
Hey btw if anyone is looking for a good web designer please contact me.
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Actually they’re wasps, not bees – but who cares when there’s a giant insect buzzing around your head eh?
I have also seen these “bees”, I can say they are definitely not Cicada killers, way more yellow and black bands on them and they are much bigger. People have tried to tell me they are Carpenter bees, but they are not fuzzy. They seem non aggressive though. I had a friend who had one that hovered constantly just outside of his front door, it was kinda neat how it would move to the side to let you pass and then move back into place. The ones I have seen are around 2″ or so in length. Would love to know what these monster bees are. If anyone finds out please let us all know!
hey michelle what are they really? they saturate the ground in front of my gf house, in front of the door/entrance during the day in the summer time. lots of holes in the ground. you see them crawl out.
weird watching a wasp that large w/ four wings to carry itself surface in her front yard when you’ve never seen one. any more info would be nice. they’re not mean i actually stood on one and i knew it. felt like a small earth quake under my foot. let him go and it didn’t retaliate
l8er, levi
metalspace001@yahoo.com
I KILLED ONE LAST NIGHT. iT IS STILL ON THE PORCH. i WILL TAKE A PICTURE AND SEND IT TO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO VERIFY THE TYPE AS A LARGE YELLOW JACKET FAMILY. MY EMAIL IS alioeg1951@aol.com.
04-19-2010
http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/buginfo/cickillr%20wasp.htm
I see these Wasp/Hornets all the time and have searched and searched to find out what they are, my grandfather called them rushian hornets when I was a kid, and the above link along with my latest sighting of the creature have convinced me. The other day I witnessed one of these when it attacked a Cicada or what I have always called a Cadydid. It grabbed the Cicada in mid air and they hit the driveway and I watched as the wasp stung the Cicada multiple times. I didn’t know until I found this article that the Cicada was only parilyzed. I would not want to get stung by one of these as I am alergic to most bee stings and at best would be very painful. Hope this helps….
I have seen MANY of these bees during the spring, summer, and fall seasons. They look EXACTLY like the pictures that Ken Savage posted! They seem to nest somewhere in (or underneath) my Lilac bush. So Far they’ve been more annoying than anything, but seemingly pretty hard to kill. The bees around my house in southwestern Virginia are a lot like what you’ve described, but the yellow stripes or coloring on them seem like a dark, almost orange color. We first noticed them a little more than a year ago, and so far no one has been stung by them. I’ve noticed that they seem to hover more quickly when someone gets too close to the the Lilac bush, and they love to buzz around the porch light at night. Other than that, and dang-near needing a brick to smash one, so far they seem harmless…let’s hope it stays that way! I would REALLY like to know what they are also. I’ve looked almost everywhere on the web, but couldn’t find anything.
That is wild…
That is where they appear to be nesting in my yard, and my neighbor`s yard, Lilac bushes…
I say appear because I have never actually seen them climb in or out of anywhere, but they just are crawling up and down the shoots of the bush, pulling the bark off in certain areas…
When we turn the lights on in the back yard at night, they swarm around them…
Years ago while back-packing, my nephew and I witnessed the same thing Jerry (Wade) Mcguire did, but three of these hornets were attacking a Cicada, we caught one and dissected it… They have 6 very large what appeared to be poison sacks connected together like a string of pearls…
Anyway, they must be attracted to Lilacs!
Peace!
Hey Hey Hey you have found a Yard Wasp.Big and scary,but i have never heard of an open attack.They are loners.I have only seen them in west texas.they are kin to the Tarantula Killer which is as large andhas a deep dark blue body almost black in appearance with yellow wings. Dont aggrivate either from my experience they are more scary than harmful.
Click on my webcam link up top to watch him.
I think its dead…..poor creature….mean mean man…
Maybe it’s a cicada killer wasp. Let it go!
its alive and been in there a short time.
He’s gone. I released the queen into the forrest behind my house. Happy. hahaa
Yippee!
And they say GM crops don’t make a difference!
=P
Hello, I’ve seen 2 of those bees in Pa. and have been wondering where they’re coming from and how they got to be that size. I did a search on the world’s largest bees and these bees are larger than the world’s largest.
I found a stray cat I take care of toying with one of these just yesterday and it scared the frigg out of me…..it was HUGE !!!!
What the heck are they (not so sure its a wasp as mentioned above) and where are they coming from ??
I live in upstate NY and have never seen one of them in my life before and I swear mine was bigger than the one pictured above.
I killed a huge bee yesterday in New Jersey! It’s the biggest bee I’ve ever seen! I actually thought it was a mutant yellow jack bee because it has black and yellow stripes on the bottom. It’s even bigger than the one in the picture. I sprayed it with Raid until it died and then left it on the window sill for others to see! They are amazed. My husband now has it in a honey jar and we’re trying to figure out what type of bee it is and where it came from. Sure enough, another one came flying into our warehouse yesterday which he killed. It too is a big one!
What’s going on with these bees? I hope there isn’t a nest of them nearby threatening to get us!
It may have killed you , if it stung you and you were alergic. i don’t know how the venom would effect kids, but i don’t think it would be too good. I think they call them killers, because they go to other smaller yellow jacket nests and bite their heads off and take them back to their nest to feed the young
That sounds exactly like the one I seen in my back yard and it scared the baJesus out of me. Black and yello stripes at the tail end big ole head and these great big brown wings and about 3 inches long.
they’re cicada killers. Trust me, I about had a heart attack the first time I saw one too.
These bees scared the fuck out of me. Don’t mean to have a dirty mouth but they were that huge!!!!!!!!!1
I have to agree with Rachael on this…These mothers are creepy…..interesting, but creepy.
My son had a painful encounter with one of these fellas just a few days ago, durring our usual August camping trip to Willow Bay Camping Area in the Alleghany Nat. Forest between Kinzua Dam, NY’s Alleghany State Park and Bradford, PA.
He was in some brush, gathering kindling wood for the nightly fire and got stung behind the ear. The area swelled up like a ping-pong ball. After some baking soda and a few hours with an ice pack, the swelling went down.
The rest of the family and I continued to see many of them durring our stay. They are nocturnal and were drawn to our dining tent at night by the bright glow of the Coleman lanterns.
I was also “escorted” to the tent by three or four of them while carrying my LED flashlight. For a flashlight, this thing is pretty bright for a flashlight and they seem to like the white-blue glow.
They would continue to dive the tent untill everybody turned off the lights. Bedtime became a ritual of checking the tent before you went in, checking the inside of the tent, then killing all the lights while you got changed for bed. The bees that would land on the outside of the tant sounded like pagers or cellphones set to vibrate. It was funny but kind of scarry.
We have been camping there for years and we usually get the same site. This is the first time we have ever seen these guys. We found a few dead ones around the fire area in the mornings. They look like the Cicada Killers, but I’m not sure. I’m wondering if these fellas are new to the North East? Like I said, I’ve never seen them here before.
The ones we found MIGHT be Gian Hornets….
http://www.greensmiths.com/bees.htm
Nix the Giant Hornet theory…they are asian and my sons tissue did not decompose. Hehehee
nix your whole statement the giant hornet from Asia has no stinger to inject these flesh rotting toxins you speak of all they have is a bite witch they use to kill whole nests of honey bees but they dont want the honey its the young larva they seek i love discovery channel almost more than beer
Nix your whole statement; the Asian giant hornet does have a stinger
a quarter inch long 1, 2, it also spits poison at your eyes (according to the video on the discovery channel) and 3, it not only has flesh rotting poison but also a neurotoxin. additionally it has chemicals which include a pain stimulant and another to draw more hornets to the victim. It doesn’t sting the bees because it doesn’t need to.
The Youngs, you may need one of these:
http://utel.trustpass.alibaba.com/product/11015842/LED_Flashlight_W_Mosquito_Repellent.html
An LED flashlight with Mosquito repellent. Don’t know if it’ll work on those huge bees though.
You can also get some bulbs that don’t emit certain wavelengths, so they don’t attract insectf. Good if you’re sitting out on your patio, although I don’t know if they come in flashlight from yet!
I also have seen these bees, and they are huge,i have seen a least three of them near eachother. i would asume that there is a nest near buy? if i was to catch one who could i take it to??
Geez – if anyone finds out where to send them for identification, let me know. I have two that I’ve killed, waiting patiently in a plastic container. I only ever see one at a time, between 5-6:00am (pitch black out), and they dive bomb my floodlight when it comes on. I’m worried about my family & dogs (it’s the dogs going out in the morning that sets off the motion light).
eww
Oregon State University will take any animal or insect and figure out what exactly it is. They get a lot of spiders from the general public.
I have seen yellow jack bees three times the size that you show. I killed a deer in Eastern Washington and the normal size yellow jackets came around for a blood meal or a piece of meat. , while I was cleaning the deer. Thirty minutes passed and I noticed a few larger bees flying around outur campsite. My friend got so scared and sat in the car and roller up the windows. Even though it was 85 degrees, he never came back out. I stayed outside and one landed on my eyelid. I swatted it to the ground and looked at it. It was twice as long as a regular yellow jacket bee and fat around as a big bumble bee. It was yellow with black stripes…A few seconds passed and it came back to life and flew away. It wasn’t a queen bee, because I saw 3 different ones flying around the camp.I contacted a university, but they never wrote back.
i ment they were three times the size of a normal yellow jacket
Don Morgan: You most likely encountered a Cicada Killer – Sphecius speciosus
WHy do they call it a killer. Can it or has it killed people?
I am in Morgantown, WV. My son killed one of these bees at 5pm (still daylight). It came into the house and woke him up when it flew in the window. He is a very sound sleeper. It scared him so bad that it took him a couple hours to get back to sleep. He works nights. Anyway, I saw the bee and it did not look like the cicada killer wasp. I looked like a giant yellow jacket, the hind end of it was not pointed like the cicada killer wasp and it did not have that much black on it. He said that there is a nest of them at his girlfriends house. These things are scarry. The small ones are bad enough. I hope that they don’t have a bad temper.
I’ve read all these post and have seen what you call the “Giant Yellow Jacket” bees your taling about, but these are not bees as stated in serveral of the post they are Brown Hornets the largets hornet in the U.S. and they sometimes resemble yellow jackets but are much larger (up to 1 1/2 inches). They love light and fly at night and are harmless if left alone. If you encounter on just move awary slowly, they do not like to waste their bite on humans, they would rather save it for their pray.
Look it up, that’s probably what you all have been encountering.
They don’t have a bad temper, but they act like a big bear.it’s not healthy toget in their way or slap them in the face.
I just saw what appeared to be a giant yellow jacket this morning on the sidewalk outside the corner store this morning in Los Angeles. The wings were about 1 1/2 inches! The head looked to be the size of a penny, and the body was closer to 3 inches long. This is a first for me. I told the grocery store owner about it because it was on the pavement inside his gate. He captured it in a glass jar and called some group at USC that is coming to pick it up today. Does anybody really know if these are Bees or Hornets? If so, could they possibly be a species from somewhere else that was transported, perhaps by produce from somewhere else?
Its not a WASP its a Hornet they are from the U.K. were i live we have thousends of them, 9 stings can kill a hourse. they are leeving U.K. because it getting 2 hot in this country!!!!!
I have had three of these so far in the last 3 weeks. Mine are black with white rings on the tail section. I am allergic to them and i don’t want my kids to get stung. Where do they come from and how did they get here? I have killed them all so far. just want to know if it really i a bee or what?
I had one around my house then a week later there’s 3 I agree think they are cicada killers there some pics here and info.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada_killer_wasp
There are a dozen or do yellowjackets buzzing around my patio table, drinking from almost empty soda cans. They favor Hansen’s natural soda. I pour a little on my hand and they land there and lap it up, then fly away.
I like the lil critters, like to watch the little guys.
Never been stung and when they try to mooch from the soda I am drinking, I just shoo them away with a wave of the hand.
Interesting: they won’t touch artificially sweetened soda but they do like Heineken!
So, yellowjacket problem? Nope, no problem.
Wireman: seeker17@softhome.net
What you are seeing is the “European Hornet” NOT the “Cicada Hawk” or what you are referring to as the “Cicada Killer”. Before you say they are the “Cicada Killer” do your research on the “European Hornet”. Compare pictures of the two. They are completely different looking. Match what you are seeing to the pictures and you will see that it is actually the “European Hornet”. I live in PA and I had four of them fly into my house at night time because they were attracted to the lights that were on in the house.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Hornet
Thanks for the above info. We live in PA and I went out to my screened in sunporch last night to look for my cat and there were about a dozen of these hideous creatures all over the screens. Of course, I freaked out and ran in the house and googled it . So now I know what is out there but I am still afraid….very very afraid. I HATE BEES!!! Well, life is full of adversity.
We saw one in our kitchen above are kitty.It was huge and scary.Our mom hit it with a broom it almost stung her.
I got stung by one on the finger. They were dive bombing me in my pool one night(the lights were on)…..so, i decided to get out and went to put down my patio umbrella and one must have been right were I put my hand to release the umbrella and it stung me….my finger is still swollen after TWO DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The one reply about 9 will kill a horse is scaring me!
I live in Upstate NY (Palermo) and one of these things dove into our siding right below our outside deck light last night around 9:30pm. Yesterday was the first full day in our new house that we just bought, and this explains why the previous people must have moved out! My boyfriend was grilling and heard it buzz by him and hit our house. He turned around, saw what it was and grabbed a broom and beat it’s ass, but it did put up a pretty serious fight. In the end he had to step on it to kill it. I’ve read all the above submissions and done the whole google thing, I’m not convinced it’s a European Hornet because it was way larger than their average size. This sucker was black & yellow striped and between 2-3 inches long with a pretty big wing span. I saw it from the inside of the French doors as he was whacking it with the broom and this sucker was enormous. I told my beau we should have saved it for National Geographic but after doing some research this morning other people have seen them…….we were thinking that it could be a new species! I don’t care what it is but would someone be so kind as to tell me how to make sure no more surface? Should we get an exterminator or one of those bee traps or what? I don’t care if they are the most peaceful things on Earth, I do not want anything like that thinking that my deck light is the new “Hornet Hotel”. Please help us rid our yard of the potential for more to show up!! Thank you!
woah thats huge are they aggressive?
I have also seen this giant bee/hornet and I have also googled to my hearts delight only to find nothing that sounds like what I saw. I live in Columbus Ohio and I was burning some branches in my backyard and I started hearing this buzzing sound. much louder than I have ever heard from a bee. It was flying no more than a foot or two off the ground and it landed real close to my burn barrell. Honestly it looked alot like a bumble bee on it was about 3.5 inches long and about an inch around. it had wings the size of a Hummingbird and was very loud. I could have killed it but I think it was a little large for my own well being. It was black and yellow striped and about the size of a roll of quarters. I have looked everyday since for another one and if I see it I plan to catch it. It is not described in any book or reference that I have searched. Truely the largest bee I have ever seen!
I live in Reading Pa. and noticed one about 2 wks ago. It was buzzing around my porch. It was light out at the time and I just thought that is one big hybrid. The one I saw was about 1 1/4″ long and about 3 times the width of a yellow jacket. A duller yellow almost burnt orange and brown. It was no big deal until last night and today. Last night my wife came home after visting her mom and I had the porch light on for her. She came up stairs and said that there was a nest of bees on the stone face under the porch. I said that is bull because I look for nests on a regular basis. They love this house. I came down and saw a group of about 25 of the yellow monsters just sitting on the face of the house about 2 feet from the door. I don’t kill anything unless it is absoultly the last resort so, I left them go and they were gone this morning. Well to my suprise I was weed wacking around my lilac trees and 3 or 4 came after me. When I looked close the trees were swarming with them. I mean 100 plus. That is why I found this posting site. Mine are not the so called cicada killer and I don’t know if they are the European Hornet. I am going to try to catch one tomorrow and post it. I will keep looking until I am sure what they are. Sadly enough I just had to kill a whole nest of regular hornets that were attacking me every time I went to my garage. I hope I don’t have to do the same here.
Whatever you are dealing with are not Cicada killers as they are loners.
I’VE SEEN MANY OF THESE WASPS WHERE I WORK IN NEW HARMONY INDIANA..THE ONE I WITNESSED BORROWING IN THE DIRT HAD ALOT MORE YELLOW THAN BLACK COLOR ON IT..MORE LIKE YELLOW TRIMMED WITH BLACK STRIPS…IT WAS HUGE…VERY BRIGHT YELLOW..IS THAT A DIFFERENT SPECIES..WISH I COULD SEE THE LADIES WASP THAT IS IN THE CUP BETTER..ITS BLURRY…TO SEE IF THATS THE SAME COLOR AS THE ONE’S I SEE IN NEW HARMONY??…
I live in warren county near the kinzua damn…. i just had my first huge bee sighting… it was on my grams screen…apparently they are common in this area… accordingto the youngs…. and neighboring nothern states… but im 21 and have never seen these in my entire life nor had any of my family….. its weird
My family and I live in Maryland and we have seen these type of Hornets, Cicada Killer’s etc. (whatever they are) just about every night. They seem to be attracted to light. I used to see these types of “bees” when I was a child, and they had thier nests in the ground. But as I grew up they seemed vanish, until now. For the last few nights everytime we open our backdoor to the deck one of these things flies right in. They are huge, I really want to say they are about 2 inches long or more. Each one seems to look differently to me. The first one that flew in looking to be brownish with yellow striping around its bottom half, it had more of a rounded butt. It scared the crap out of my because my mom and I both are very allergic to any type of bee, so of course we didn’t know if this was going to sting us. The one that flew in last night was alittle bit smaller maybe 1 1/2 inches and it looked black with yellow strips. I can’t seem to figure out what type of bee this is. When I look at pics of Cicada Killer Wasps, they look like them, but without the pointy butts. Then when I look at the brown hornets they also look like them. So I am so confused as to what they are. Or even if they sting. I am worried my son will get stung by one of these things also. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks
If you do catch these large wasps be careful if you decide to keep them – when dead -for examination down the microscope. They have a terrible odour of decomposition and the light source, if hot, increases it. It is not clear if this odour arises from hornet decomposition or an emanation from the bacteria which are responsible for the putrefaction. It lasts in the nostril for weeks (and months) which suggests it is bacterial. Use cold light if you must! DB
I live in Central Florida, I was walking up my driveway the other afternoon and noticed one, I remember thinking that this is the biggest bee/hornet I’d ever seen, it made me nervous enough to pick up my pace and get out of the area. Today, I walked out in to my garage and heard a loud buzzing sound, when I turned to look I noticed an approx 3″ long, as round as a majic marker bee/hornet hovering along a wall. This was the same type I saw a couple days before. I grabbed a can of wasp spray and sprayed the thing, I know I hit it because I saw it fall in to my toolbox, I walked around my truck to get a better view and the next thing I know it flys right out. I am in agreement with those of you who have your doubts about this thing being a cicada wasp or European Hornet, this thing is too big. Joe
I just killed 2 huge bees at my house, in cleveland ohio. they looked like a wasp but about 4 times the size. it was huge, and there were 2 of them. And about a year ago i came across a bee that looked like a wasp but the yellow and black stripe part was about 2.5 in long. it was crazy. I have no clue what any of these bees are.
that’s no YellowJacket, that is the Asian Giant Hornet, the World’s Largest and most DEADLIEST Wasp
This is a Cicada Wasp not an Asian Hornet, you wouldn’t find one in North America anywhere and believe me Asian Giants get much larger than anything anyone has seen around here.
We just found a dead one lying on the floor of our dining room. Looks like it’s been dead for some time based on the dust. I’m guessing one of our cats found it and was using it as a toy.
I can’t say for sure about what is in the pictures of this post but what we have resembles the European Hornet and not the Cicada Killer hornets. We’re in Southeastern PA and I see many others here have found them too.
I’m just glad they’re not an aggressive critter like yellow jackets as the thought of those things wandering around our house freaked out my wife. Especially as we have small children…although my kids seem to be more scared of lady bugs and want to play with the snakes so who knows.
wow
I think the European Hornet is very uncommon and I imagine it was a Cicada Killer wasp. I just saw one in our screened porch and it must have been AT LEAST an inch long. They are supposedly non-aggressive but I killed it anyway. I hate bugs and I don’t want to accidentally sit on it.
Include Washington in the bee sighting. We were at Crow Butte Park in Paterson, Wa and there were a bunch of them. They don’t seem very aggressive. We could brush them away and they didn’t come back to sting us. My daughters boyfriend thinks they are the Asian Giants too.