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 NinthMusketeer wrote:
I dunno, anyone remember when Africanized Honeybees ('Killer Bees') were going to take over everywhere? I grew up hearing fear mongering about that (for [i]years[/ii) and it never panned out. It makes me inherently dismissive of bee-related crises.

I think the difference is that an Africanized Honeybee is still a Honeybee. Yeah, they're more aggressive, but they're not all that dangerous and are useful for the environment. Murder Hornets are legit deadly and actually attack and kill vital bee hives.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
I dont really have any fears of flying stingers. bees over here will leave you alone if you leave them alone. we have tons around the hedge in my garden and my daughter runs around playing with no issues. I don't know if hornets are more aggressive.

Oh yes. All Hornets are very aggressive. And these hornets are small bird sized.

Hornets are not necessarily aggressive, it varies by species. It's also remarkable how one man's "aggressive" is another's "justifiably righteous fury."

Also, I don't know if you were seriously sharing that image out of ignorance and genuinely believe it, or are on the wind up, but a queen of the species in question is about 2" and workers that you'll see outside of the hive a little over half that, the image is clearly doctored.

 Alpharius wrote:

 RiTides wrote:

I wonder if we can somehow teach North American / European honeybees the same thing?

Not sure if serious...

Anyway, remember the "Killer Bees" thing from...the 70's?

Hopefully people will be able figure out a way to neutralize this threat before it destroys local bee populations though.

Remember it? I may not have been alive but I saw a movie about them and another movie about various super spider's. I think that movie was called arachnaphobia. I do very much remember a movie on killer bees. Some teenaged dudes got mad at em and destroyed one of their nests in the movie and it followed them back home and stung various people a good amount.

Invasive species coming from Africa have always been a problem. Still trying to get rid of those damn humans that spread everywhere ;P. If I recall some people are trying to change records in all seriousness. Something about the current oldest human remains being spotted in Latin america first I think. Learning new things is fun but scientists should be more humble sometimes. When they make errors they they should eventually acknowledge them. Human arrogance at its finest i suppose. Just like they were wrong about the spread of killer bees.

As someone that went through physics classes let me just say a lot of those dudes should just treat other professionals with respect. There's a bit of teasing between the various sciences and I think physics is at the top for being at the forefront of science and they definitely are arrogant and smug near engineers.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
I dunno, anyone remember when Africanized Honeybees ('Killer Bees') were going to take over everywhere? I grew up hearing fear mongering about that (for [i]years[/ii) and it never panned out. It makes me inherently dismissive of bee-related crises.

I think the difference is that an Africanized Honeybee is still a Honeybee. Yeah, they're more aggressive, but they're not all that dangerous and are useful for the environment. Murder Hornets are legit deadly and actually attack and kill vital bee hives.

There was a video on twitter this morning of a hornet climbing into a bee nest and they absolutely messed it up.. it was brutal.

Actually that might be the video in the OP? I cant watch it on here.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
A nest of these established itself on top of my mother-in-law's air conditioning unit. (In Japan.) I very carefully saturated it with insect spray, and the problem was solved. Of course, the nest was right out in the open in an urban environment.

That's my honest to God fear.
I'm afraid of 2 things, flying insect and clowns.
And these things are a thing out of my nightmare.

Clowns are next month...

“Seldom seen in the wild, the rare Hobocis Jestercus is seen here, prowling about the outer edges of a run-down steel town. While the Hobocis Jestercus’ preferred prey are young human children, occasionally one becomes desperate enough to attack a grown human poster, as we’re about to discover...”

* Music picks up pace, as the Hobo Clown begins chasing DakkaDakka posters at a flat-out sprint. *

So I could be having a picnic, in Japan, and one of those big bastards could come at me? Never mind my food, they can have my car!

We've had problems with asian hornets from 2004 onwards. My eastern region (I live in Champagne-Ardennes) isn't really plagued, but my southern friends are every summer extremly annoyed by this hornets. Unlike european hornets, that won't normally attack you unless you actually tease them, these hornets are known to attack for apparently no reason on occasion. Suffice to say, they already sport qite a lot of venom and can pierce through even some beekeeper suits... We won't ever get rid of these motherstompers, unfortunatly, and they will remain an issue ad vitam eternam...

They are also unbelievably effective bee killers...

But those hornets who made planetary fall in america are an even bigger species, capable of killing mice, with even more venom to spare, so they are equipped to present a real pain in the arse if they actually settle down in your country folks.

See the video below (note it is graphic):

I am not a big fan of hornets of any kind but even local hornets here in Florida are a major pain. I use a live and let live policy with all creatures but I've had hornets attack me just for walking into my house and I had to take care of those nests.

If these turn into 3x the size hornets bringing one of the most painful stings in the animal kingdom I am going to have to go on offense. I will murder these hornets. In a way I kind of feel bad for them. Their size and their stinging power will lead to their annihilation. Really though they are just a really effective creature at finding their niche in an ecosystem.

Oh my gosh Maréchal, I am sorry to hear that

I added spoiler tags to the video, as seeing the hornet kill that mouse is honestly quite scary and don't want people to see it accidentally who aren't ready for it.

I do not know how big the mouse was, but given that I'm not sure the image Grey Templar posted at the top of this page was actually doctored / edited. It's at least referenced in some articles talking about Asian Hornets... but it could be they've all mistaken it for genuine. Either way, yikes... godspeed to the folks trying to contain this out in Washington state

My grandfather worked in the docks when he was young, unloading timber from all over the world. One day they were unloading and one of these murder hornets came out at them. They ended up killing it, by trying to squeeze it into a matchbox for keeps.

 Future War Cultist wrote:
So I could be having a picnic, in Japan, and one of those big bastards could come at me? Never mind my food, they can have my car!

Even Godzilla fears these things.

That is hilarous . But seriously, Godzilla has it right...

 RiTides wrote:
Oh my gosh Maréchal, I am sorry to hear that

I added spoiler tags to the video, as seeing the hornet kill that mouse is honestly quite scary and don't want people to see it accidentally who aren't ready for it.

I do not know how big the mouse was, but given that I'm not sure the image Grey Templar posted at the top of this page was actually doctored / edited. It's at least referenced in some articles talking about Asian Hornets... but it could be they've all mistaken it for genuine. Either way, yikes... godspeed to the folks trying to contain this out in Washington state

Thanks for putting under spoiler I actually totally forgot to do it myself!

But yeah since these orange monsters came to France they've been an acute issue... Ironically, vespa mandarinia arriving to France could maybe reduce the proliferation of asian hornets, I read that the killer hornets might hunt and feed on lesser sized hornets. But if that is the case, I don't want them moving on to Europe and wreck our normal europeans hornets as well....

By the way, if anyone of you knows french, I recommend watching Etienne LGF on Youtube, he's a beekepper and invasive insects remover who shares his knowledge and passion of the insects on a very enjoyable an instructive manner....

No problem!

With all the coverage this is getting in the news, one positive side effect might be more of an awareness of invasive species... when I visited western Australia and New Zealand there were all sorts of warnings about this, but I've never noticed much in that regard when arriving in the US (from overseas) or Europe...

 Frazzled wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
A nest of these established itself on top of my mother-in-law's air conditioning unit. (In Japan.) I very carefully saturated it with insect spray, and the problem was solved. Of course, the nest was right out in the open in an urban environment.

That's my honest to God fear.
I'm afraid of 2 things, flying insect and clowns.
And these things are a thing out of my nightmare.

Clowns are next month...

I'll take that over wasps, like who finds clowns scary anyways? Just a bunch of people in goofy outfits and makeup, you got be a real wimp to find that gak scary.

 Cheesecat wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
A nest of these established itself on top of my mother-in-law's air conditioning unit. (In Japan.) I very carefully saturated it with insect spray, and the problem was solved. Of course, the nest was right out in the open in an urban environment.

That's my honest to God fear.
I'm afraid of 2 things, flying insect and clowns.
And these things are a thing out of my nightmare.

Clowns are next month...

I'll take that over wasps, like who finds clowns scary anyways? Just a bunch of people in goofy outfits and makeup, you got be a real wimp to find that gak scary.

Right up until 20 of them get out of a car with mallets and start slapsticking their way towards you

 RiTides wrote:


I do not know how big the mouse was, but given that I'm not sure the image Grey Templar posted at the top of this page was actually doctored / edited. It's at least referenced in some articles talking about Asian Hornets...

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

The queens are considerably larger than workers. Queens can exceed 50 mm (2.0 in), while workers are between 35 and 40 mm (1.4 and 1.6 in). The reproductive anatomy is consistent between the two, but workers do not reproduce.

While that's from Wikipedia admittedly, it is cited, and those facts are specifically for the Asian Giant Hornet (aside from the simple Asian Hornet which is invasive in areas of Europe.)

The Asian Giant Hornet isn't even the largest wasp species, and the biggest don't really tally with that image either

The largest wasp is probably the so-called tarantula hawk species Pepsis pulszkyi, at up to 6.8 cm (2.7 in) long and 11.6 cm (4 1⁄2 in) wingspan, although many other Pepsis species approach a similar size. The giant scoliid wasp Megascolia procer may rival the tarantula hawks in weight, if not length and wingspan, and the Asian giant hornet Vespa mandarinia can reach a body length of up to 2 in.[14]

Literally nothing in the facts about this species that I can find endorses that image, unless it's been doctored, forced perspective, or misidentified.

Here's an image of a real giant hornet on somebody's hand, the scale looks dramatically different I'm sure you'd agree. This image is taken from Snopes, as a real image as opposed to another existing giant hornet image which has shown to be a hoax.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 Cheesecat wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
A nest of these established itself on top of my mother-in-law's air conditioning unit. (In Japan.) I very carefully saturated it with insect spray, and the problem was solved. Of course, the nest was right out in the open in an urban environment.

That's my honest to God fear.
I'm afraid of 2 things, flying insect and clowns.
And these things are a thing out of my nightmare.

Clowns are next month...

I'll take that over wasps, like who finds clowns scary anyways? Just a bunch of people in goofy outfits and makeup, you got be a real wimp to find that gak scary.

Right up until 20 of them get out of a car with mallets and start slapsticking their way towards you

Oh come on we both know most clowns aren't murderers (so it's extremely unlikely of this occurring) and even your scenario is as equally funny as it would be scary, due the the absurdity of it all. Plus, the scariness has nothing to do with them being clowns but more the fact that a violent mob

is chasing me.

I can personally confirm that the tarantula hawk wasp mentioned by Az is bbiigg. Saw one attacking a tarantula outside my house last year.

I've seen other videos of these murder hornets, and they are the size of hummingbirds, which is massive for an insect IMO.

Here is a video of a fool deliberately allowing one to sting him and describing the pain, if you're curious about that. I suppose it might also help with the scale issue.



Makes my skin crawl. A nice, modestly sized red wasp got me in the arm while I was trimming the bushes (Central Florida) and my bicep was swollen like Popeye for weeks. I'm sure one of these suckers will be an instant trip to the emergency room if I run afoul of it.

 Cheesecat wrote:

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 Cheesecat wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
A nest of these established itself on top of my mother-in-law's air conditioning unit. (In Japan.) I very carefully saturated it with insect spray, and the problem was solved. Of course, the nest was right out in the open in an urban environment.

That's my honest to God fear.
I'm afraid of 2 things, flying insect and clowns.
And these things are a thing out of my nightmare.

Clowns are next month...

I'll take that over wasps, like who finds clowns scary anyways? Just a bunch of people in goofy outfits and makeup, you got be a real wimp to find that gak scary.

Right up until 20 of them get out of a car with mallets and start slapsticking their way towards you

Oh come on we both know most clowns aren't murderers (so it's extremely unlikely of this occurring) and even your scenario is as equally funny as it would be scary, due the the absurdity of it all. Plus, the scariness has nothing to do with them being clowns but more the fact that a violent mob

is chasing me.

While you cant pinpoint the cause of all phobias, some people believe that because of the makeup of clowns messing with the outline of many of the noticeable features of the human face, when children are exposed to this when they are developing the skill of recognizing faces, it can cause some wires to be crossed and develop a fear of clowns for their unnatural charactaristics

I wonder if some of the size discrepancy could just be due to the queens versus "normal" giant hornets size? Either way... auughhh.

And I swear guys, I'm not watching any more videos . So scary...

 Gitzbitah wrote:
Here is a video of a fool deliberately allowing one to sting him and describing the pain, if you're curious about that. I suppose it might also help with the scale issue.

Spoiler:

Makes my skin crawl. A nice, modestly sized red wasp got me in the arm while I was trimming the bushes (Central Florida) and my bicep was swollen like Popeye for weeks. I'm sure one of these suckers will be an instant trip to the emergency room if I run afoul of it.

Funnily enough, this good sir Etienne actually states that germanic wasps in europe can sting as painfully as european hornets and even asian hornets. As far as stinging goes, our little usual wasps in the old continent are not ridiculous at all... What's more, honeybees have a particularly allergenic venom... However none of them at least pose no threat to our local fauna!

Not that since they are so small, wasps are sometimes really hard to escape from in your beekeeper suit, as they sometimes succed in smipping into even the tiniest of space between gloves and suit for example!



Tribute to our local flying stingers that swarm quite well too! (from 2:50 onwards)

I swore I wasn't going to watch any more videos on this, but I tried Maréchal's above (which is in French, so I was spared ) and then they were randomly mentioned in an unrelated video series I follow this morning

I do hope all the coverage and awareness might translate into something that aids the fight against these things getting established... but I don't know what that would take the form of. Maybe funding for an intensive effort to find and root out the nests of the few sightings so far? It seems like it would need to happen really soon to be effective, but obviously now is when people have a more immediate-consequence problem to worry about...

wondering why bees are still living

Liste wrote:
wondering why bees are still living

Probably only because they are actively raised by humans. Honey Bees are no longer wild insects that humans have been tricking into living in specific places. They are well and truly domesticated just like Cows, Chickens, Cats, etc...

Won't these murder hornets suffer greater predation from insect eating birds, bats, etc? Being large and colorful you'd think insect eaters would target them more.

I saw a video of a preying mantis calmly walk up to one and eat it's head, these things have predators.

https://youtu.be/w1_e_QIdUtM

i see of lot of these getting eaten by bats and other insect predators in america, i hope it keeps their population down.

BTW you cat is still a bigger badass than a murder hornet, at least cats can survive being attacked by one.

https://youtu.be/N9gS--wMHeE