Wasps and Bees

[Lace Neil Singer]

Someone emailed me the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fTrSOFyfxs

I felt compelled to watch it. Holy SHIT. o.o Am I glad we don't have those bastards over here or what?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

We have Fire Ants down here, too.

Like little, tiny wasps. The venom is actually very similar to that of paper wasps. It's literally like having fire spreading across your skin, hence the name. I've been bitten by these bastards thousands of times. They climb up on you and then all begin stinging en masse at once. Horrible. These things can really mess you up.

Fortunately, I am not allergic. I think I've built up sort of a resistance to the venom. It does hurt like a sumbitch when they sting, but I rarely develop the pustules. I usually get red "pimples" that go away pretty quickly. I get bit bad enough, I end up with a fever. But overall, I'm luckier than some, as they don't hurt me nearly as badly as they hurt some other people.

Some fell down into my sports bra once. Fun times.

[Skunkle]

"Scorpion Killer" wasps in Arizona are gigantic. It was very hard for me to vacation there.

In Texas, they have these huge black hornets with a big orange stripe (look up "handling a hornet" on YouTube). I've seen them frequently in Tyler, and yet neither my family living there nor any local I've asked claims to have ever seen one. They have a nastier look than the Japanese hornets, though they're about the same size, and they have long stingers. I finally got my mother to see one in flight, and she fully believed it was a hummingbird due to the size - I had seen it landed moments before, so could explain that it was indeed a gigantic wasp.

I will never live in Arizona or Texas.

Anyone know what sorts of native wasps are in California, Wisconsin or Pennsylvania?

[linguist]

skunkle, those you are describing in texas sound like cicada killers. yes, they're big and scary looking, but they're harmless as long as you don't threaten them. and they only live in areas where you find cicadas: on the coastal plain, in the forested areas of east texas, and a bit in central texas. not so much in south or west texas, or in the panhandle.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Yeah, we have cicada killers here. I am fairly certain that they are harmless, provided you are not, you know, a cicada. I've seen one in action. Impressive. Sucker hauled off a cicada that was so big the killer was having trouble getting airbourne.

Icheumons are like that, too. (I dunno if I spelled that right). They look like huge scary wasps, but you can hold them in your hand. Harmless.