Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Not on topic at all: Anyone into bugs??

On my window just now there was this MASSIVE bug....I mean, it was a B-52, not just a bug!!! It was no less than 4" long including the long, LONG stinger looking thing. It had beetle like wings, but the body was that of a hornet or a wasp. It also had yellow stripes on the back, like a yellowjacket. My Mum half-killed it so I finished the job with more Raid. Man, that thing was pretty resistant, it took a lot of Raid!! It was built like a tank!

We have some BIG bugs in Pennsylvania but I've NEVER seen anything that big or with THAT long of a stinger. Of course if it was a queen it might've been her egg-laying-device-thing.

So I'm thinking it may be either:

a) a queen hornet/wasp/yellowjacket (I've never seen a queen stinging insect before but have dealt with enough of her subjecst!!)
b) one of those large beetles that LOOKS like a hornet/yellowjacket/wasp but is in fact harmless.

Anyone have any idea what kind of bug I may be describing?? I'll do some Googling because now I'm curious!



EDIT: I looked around and I'm not any closer to identifying this insect. It doesn't look like anything out there! It's not like a typical yellow jacket....it had black legs, not yellow legs, and it had dark beetle-like wings, not the usual transparent or light brown translucent wings a yellowjacket usually has, even though the rest of it was colored like a typical, albeit HUGE, yellow jacket. It's not a European yellow jacket becuase it came out in broad daylight. It's not a cicada killer either because it wasn't colored correctly. I'm clueless.

Rox

"I have seen the beginning and the end of our story.....the tale is crude and ill-conceived. We must rewrite the ending of it, you and I."
http://www.geocities.com/artisan1998.geo/index.html

Edited by Rox on 08/26/03 01:51 PM (server time).

Wow.... sounds pretty scarey Rox.

I remember when I visited Antietam (just across the border from PA) I saw the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life. How close is that to you?

About a month ago, also had the pleasure to find the first scorpion in my place here in AZ.

Take care,

Tim

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional

Hey Rox, it sounds very similar to this thing I had a run-in with a few months ago. I returned home one afternoon to find this perfectly circular hole about 1 inch in diameter drilled into one of my porch colums. There was sawdust all on the floor beneath it. At first I thought someone had done this as a mean prank, but then I heard "buzzing" coming from the hole. Well, I got my can of bug killer and began spraying in the hole. In a little bit, this huge bug comes "drunkily" flying out and crashes to the ground. It was about 3 to 4 inches in length and also had the stripes on its back. It was the meanest looking thing I'd ever seen. Well, to make a long story short, I did some research and found that it was a Carpenter Bee. I had heard of Carpenter Ants but never bees.

It might just be that this is your mystery bug also.

Johnny

Antietam doesn't sound like anywhere familiar to me. Which border is it close to?

I'm sure glad we don't have scorpions around here! We have enough pests the way it is!

Rox

"I have seen the beginning and the end of our story.....the tale is crude and ill-conceived. We must rewrite the ending of it, you and I."
http://www.geocities.com/artisan1998.geo/index.html

Hey Johnny!!

It couldn't have been a Carpenter bee because carpenter bees are perfectly round, like a bumblebee This was definitely wasp/yellow jacket-like. I'm starting to think it was some sort of wood-boring wasp. The long "stinger" was definitely an oviposter, now that I think of it. She was also behaving like she wanted to put her eggs inbetween the holes in the window screen. Too bad we freaked out and killed her before I could get a picture!

But thanks for your suggestion and I hope you don't find any more carpenter bees in your porch!


(BTW, you still LOOK GREAT in that car!!! )

Rox

"I have seen the beginning and the end of our story.....the tale is crude and ill-conceived. We must rewrite the ending of it, you and I."
http://www.geocities.com/artisan1998.geo/index.html

Hi Rox

Was this the little guy you saw?? Carpenter Bee, common name for a group of mostly large, metallic-colored bees that construct nests in flower stalks or wood. There are about 730 species of carpenter bees. They live throughout the world wherever woody plants abound, especially in forested regions. Most species live in the tropics.

Carpenter bees resemble bumble bees but do not have yellow markings. The females of most species are black or blue with a metallic sheen and may be up to 2.5 cm (1 in) long. In general, the males look like the females. In some species, the males are covered by light brown, light green, or yellowish-green hairs. Carpenter bees typically fly long distances and visit many kinds of flowers. They can maintain their body temperature when the air is cool. Several species form colonies that display interesting social behaviors. Some of these species pass through several stages of social development as the colony matures.

When female carpenter bees construct tunnels in solid wood, their chewing of the wood can be heard from several feet away. Piles of sawdust beside the nest entrance and the presence of many bees in flight in the area provide clues that a nest is near. Brood cells (compartments for offspring) are constructed in the tunnels. The cells are separated by partitions made from sawdust or wood chips cemented together with saliva.



John

Hey John,

No, it wasn't fuzzy at all like your bee picture (Honey bee? Bumblebee?)... It was definitely more wasp/yellow jacket like. I'll try to post some pics as to what it was similar to.


I really appreciate all the help from you AS Kickers!!!


Rox

"I have seen the beginning and the end of our story.....the tale is crude and ill-conceived. We must rewrite the ending of it, you and I."
http://www.geocities.com/artisan1998.geo/index.html

I think there must be more than one type of carpenter bee, because the one I killed was not round at all. It was much longer bodied than a bumble bee. Maybe I saw the male, and the pictures that are out there are of the female, I don't know. But that wouldn't work for what you have anyway, as I've just read that the male carpenter bee doesn't have a stinger. Well, it was just a thought. Maybe you are right that you saw a queen. I don't know about queen bees, but queen ants and termites are definitely huge compared to their children.

Carpenter bees was definitely my first choice too. I had a big problem with them at my last house. The female stays inside the wood and lays eggs in little alcoves along the main tract that they bore. The males are the ones you see out buzzing around. They actually dive bomb you as you're trying to get through. Luckily it's only the female if the species that sting (I'll wisely withhold making any further comment on that ). I'll do some digging and see what I come up with. The long stinger part doesn't jive though with the ones I had at my house.

Ian


Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. --Benjamin Franklin

Yes, this wasn't any sort of a bee, it was more wasp-like. I'll post some pictures of what it was **similar to**, however I don't understand what a paper-using wasp would be doing with such a long oviposter.

Rox

"I have seen the beginning and the end of our story.....the tale is crude and ill-conceived. We must rewrite the ending of it, you and I."
http://www.geocities.com/artisan1998.geo/index.html