Intimidation.......Hornet?

sorry picture, but it is the best I could get. Dozens of these things appearing in my working flower beds in the last couple of days. Rapidly buzzing around, hard to even get a photo.... buzzing, scareing me. I don't use insecticides in my butterfly gardens. I am looking for a nest and not finding anything. They seem to dissappear into the ground covers, making me think they are ground nesters. I googled hornets and the pictures are not good there either. Showing pictures of a hornet nest, I haven't seen anything around here like that. Large wasp like maybe half the size of my thumb and fat......seem to travel in twos..verrrry fast and noisy..HELP ID, afraid to work the beds I am carrying a can of hornet spray with me, but they are too fast to even spray

Can't tell much from the picture, but yellow jackets nest in the ground, and if you happen to be gardening too close to where their nest is they'll come out and buzz around you to try to get you to leave (and will presumably sting at some point if you don't take the hint!) They all go into the nest in the evening, so if you can figure out where it is that would be the time to spray it. Or if you know where it is and can avoid it for the rest of the season, I've read that they never nest in the same spot two years in a row so the problem will be gone (I've observed this at my old house--every year they would have their nest in a different spot in the yard--I always just left them alone and avoided the area when they were active, but if they'd ever gotten too close to the house I probably would have had someone come take care of it) Also, I could never see a visible nest--I think they must just have a hole in the ground or something, but if you watch where they're flying in and out of you can make a pretty good guess on the location.

I thought that this looked like a cicada killer, but they are usually larger than half a thumb size - more like a whole thumb size. The coloration is correct though, so maybe it is a related wasp in the same family or a smaller species of cicada killer. So I suspect family Sphecidae. These wasps dig nests in the ground and bury insects for their larvae. They are solitary wasps, and so are generally docile unless you step on them, put your hand on top of them, etc. They are beneficial predators.

Sphecidae is a large and somewhat diverse family - but my guess is that yours would fall into the subfamily Nyssoninae

Here is a link to some pictures of this subfamily... http://bugguide.net/node/view/12516/bgpage

See if any of these are yours, but warning, even with the subfamily, there are still about 10+ genera.

you are correct in thinking they are the cicada killer.....matter of fact one was buzzing my feet as I sat in the golf cart.........I was trying to photo him and protect myself at the same time, he was being quite agressive.......After I sucessfully shooed it...I found a dying cicada on the floor mat.....I wish the picture was more clear, but those little boogers are really fast and intimidating......I checked and they usually aren't a threat to people unless you just directly arouse them..I feel better, I don't like to spray....... I have a live and let live policy since I moved into a previously uninhabited 40 acres of wooded and tall grassland prairie. I really enjoy it and have learned to share with many creatures.......and after all it's their land and I am the intruder..thanks for the help...I just love DG people........Ya"ll are the best..............
Thanks,
Jackie
Jackie

Be careful, they sting. They are far worse than any wasp I have been stung by. They are almost as bad as a saddleback catapillar. This comes from first hand experience. They live in holes in the ground. If you step on there hole they will come after you. All I can say is run! Sometimes that does not work!!

It's amazing what one can learn from this site! I've been curious about the 2 or 3 cicadas recently found on our front porch. They all appeared to be injured in some way, but not dead. They were lying on their sides, legs twitching, and fluid coming from their heads (I know, yuk). They remained in this state for a day or so. I have seen these wasps, but never knew what they were. It sure sounds like these mystery cicadas were victims of cicada killer wasps - just didn't get transported to the nest for some reason.

Finding paralyzed black widows on our front porch led to posting a thread, which led to more research, which led to solving that mystery - dirt daubers! The dirt daubers favorite food is the black widow spider. They paralyze immature spiders and carry them to their nest, deposit an egg on the spider, then the babies eat the living spider after hatching.

What will we find paralyzed on our porch next? Whatever it is.....I'll turn to this site to learn more about it!

Debra

pictured the hornet with a cicada entering his hole

thanks for the heads up.......research had told me they weren't a threat......sure seemed like a threat to me, they are verrrrry aggressive..I have their holes all in my flower beds, I am organic I don't spray. I will have to be more careful

Wow, what a great pic.

Wow, great photo. You did a super job. After looking at it I realized the dying creatures on my front porch weren't cicadas, but katydids. Anyone have any ideas what that was all about?

Debra

Good-griefikins! .. jackieshar !!

The cicadas are some pretty big-bodied bugs, themselves ..
And I've been finding quite a surprising # of dead cicadas laying about the place, here - but, heaven forbid, if I ever see some gigantic wasp as {THAT} totin' a cicada around - he'll be given PLENTY of elbow room to do whatever he desires .. with no interruption from this ol gal!!

What an opportunity for ya .. and a wonderful shot, to boot!!

- Magpye