Wasps

Thanks for that. A well-informed and measured article. Also a good Grauniadism in mis-spelling the word 'plagues' in the URL. :)

There's also a gorgous picture with the article. I've always thought wasps especially beautiful, although there are many very beautiful insects (along with some pretty ugly ones, mind you). As ever, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course. :)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        ![](http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/pictures/2013/9/5/1378384747962/German-wasp-Vespula-germa-008.jpg)

is that the mdcc tester approved method ?

we had issues on saturday with a wasp trapped and released twice but kept coming back .... i even offered it some of my cider to be getting on with it just made it madder and more clingy ... in fact i'm sure i heard it say ..... i love you, you're my best friend you are .... in a drunken slurry voice

out for ride on m/bike yesterday - came back to bike from ATM to find a Wasp party going on - they must have a thing for shiny black polished metal - at least 7 of the fuckers all dancing about - one clinging to the screen as I set off - had to stop and twat it as was sure it was going to get up into my helmet

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/asian-giant-hornets-kill-28-in-china-8843592.html

Steer clear of the nests, kids.

42 Dead and 1,600 injured

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/killer-hornets-see-first-pictures-2327613

look at the fucking big spikes

It looks like one of these species whose larvae can grow in your body. Which could end up with you having a fat wormy thing in some of your cavity. Scary shit.

Parisitoid wasps don't use humans as hosts - they use other insects, but mostly caterpillars.

The insect most likely to use humans as a host is the Bot Fly. My mate got infected in Belize and when he felt it wriggling he went apeshit and had a fellow squaddie cut it out with a combat knife.

The big wasps above (vespa mandarinia) have such potent venom and inject such a large quantity that they can actually kill off the flesh in the vicinity of the sting, causing necrosis over a larger area if untreated.

Nice.

Cheers Luci, you just made a paranoid wasp hater feel a whole lot better.

My pleasure!

Incidentally, I had one of these in my garden a couple of weeks back:

Queen hornet. Really was huge, sounded like a little electric whisk when in the air.

^ nano drone sent by NSA mate - "they came for the bloggers, and I didn't speak out"

so.. I only read this thread yesterday... and today this is on the front page of The Guardian website....

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/04/killer-hornets-chinese-city-living-in-fear

My pleasure!

Incidentally, I had one of these in my garden a couple of weeks back:

Queen hornet. Really was huge, sounded like a little electric whisk when in the air.

Saw one of those yesterday afternoon when I was walking home with the kids. It was enormous and that sound! Scary.

Hornet queens are even less likely to sting you than workers.

The situation in that town in China is completely exceptional and out of control. The article linked to above shows you the factors to create a 'perfect storm'--lots of hives, some in close proximity to dwellings, of the most venomous variety of wasp known, and lots of people accidentally disturbing nests, suffering dozens of stings. I'd guess that there would also be other environmental factors than the heat which caused the hornets to multiply so much, but I don't know what they could be.

The corpses in the picture appear to be charred from having been burned? They also look bigger than average for Asian Giant Hornets (unless it's quite a small hand in the picture).

It's certainly a horrid situation and I hope they get it under control.

In the meantime, kill all the wasps before they get you.

I still pride myself on the amount of wasps I kill every summer. 63 in two weeks whilst I was camping in mid august. I believe I'm making the word a better place. #TeamBees

Husy repped for a sterling effort.

Juice cartons left outside in the summer are best. They go in... and never come out. Mwahahahaha!

never been stung by one, hope i dont either! hate the things aha

Juice cartons left outside in the summer are best. They go in... and never come out. Mwahahahaha!

As I found out to my utter horror a few years ago... Hung over to fuck, foot hanging outside tent and I feel something crawling over it, I use the other foot to drowsily rub the offending bug off and POW.... POW POW POW!!!! Stung 4 times in a freaking gazillionth of a second. I'm up, shoe in hand mudering as many as the fuckers that I can find, which is weirdly quite a few. After a frantic 5 mins of swiping and death, my foot throbbing, my head throbbing and my throat parched, I sit on the grass and grab the open carton of juice I'd left in the porch of the tent, tilt my head back, open my grid and pour, swallowing gratefully as the liquid pours in to my throat......

FFFFUUUUUCCCCKKKKK!!!! It's fucking full of wasps (accounting for the number of the feckless id killed in the past 5 mins) an ice just swallowed a handful of the bastards. Freaking out, expecting a sting in the guts at any moment I'm on the phone to a taxi and on my way into town to the hospital.

Cut a long story short, I was fine. Doc said they'd probably already drowned and anyway if I hadn't been stung yet the acid in my stomach would deal with them.... Didn't stop me expecting the worst every time I went for a shit for the next few days..

Hate the bastards.

Stung 4 times in a freaking gazillionth of a second. I'm up, shoe in hand mudering as many as the fuckers that I can find, which is weirdly quite a few.

http://www.insectstings.co.uk/waspsting.shtml

"Another feature unique to the wasp and hornet is that the venom contains a pheromone which alarms all other wasps in the area and invites them to join the attack on the victim."

Sleep tight!

First weekend with bearable temperatures this year in Berlin, and already fucking wasps goddammit.

German wasps are always out and about earlier, nabbing the best spot by the pool etc.

They're just putting their feelers out.