Talk:European hornet

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[edit] European hornet in US

Excuse me sir, but I have had personal experience with this insect in the New York City area, and my prior comments were not irrelevant. Each May or so, in some parts of the City's "outer boroughs", this insect builds its small nests in the spaces between wooden window frames and surrounding brick. For whatever reason, when it discovers a way into the house from the nest, it (most likely the queen) relentlessly attacks any light source or visable motion. It is nearly 1.5 inches long, "buzzes" or does fly-bys once or twice before stinging, then goes for the butt or the back of the neck. Its stinger is about .25" long, about .0625" thick, curved, with 2 parallel featherlike structures. In my experience, it's the most robust of the wasp/hornet/bee insects in the eastern US except for the Cicada-killer. It also seems a step below in intelligence - if that can be measured in insects - than social wasps, in its attraction to light and its inability to find its own nest when it has found a way into the house, which I believe is the motive for its attacks. 69.86.11.187

it is customary to sign comments (and login beforehand) so I've added your name. I agree with the comment from PiccoloNamek. wikipedia is no place for original research. Please see hornet for more recent info that might help. Widefox 12:22, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] warning - copyright material!

this article contains copyright material (marked as needing reference) Widefox 13:53, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Actually, no, the passage you flagged is common knowledge and factual; no reference is required for it, no more than a reference would be required for stating that a hornet possesses four wings. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 138.23.134.119 (talk) 22:07, 6 December 2006 (UTC).
It's verbatim - please check http://www.vespa-crabro.de/hornets.htm "In males..." along with previous sentence except "female" changed to "queen" . I flagged it for that possible copyright infringement reason - not "common knowledge" - as I already stated above. I don't see how hiding this, instead of fixing helps. Please could you sign your comments. Widefox 13:45, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
If it was from an external source, then you should have said the source when you added the "copyrighted material" flag. I've changed the text so it is no longer verbatim. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 138.23.134.119 (talk) 19:08, 7 December 2006 (UTC).