Talk:Asian giant hornet

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[edit] Correction of Japanese usage

スズメバチ (suzumebachi) just means "wasp" or "hornet". The Japanese word for giant hornet is オオスズメバチ (oo-suzumebachi), literally meaning "big sparrow bee". Here's a link to the Japanese wikipedia article on suzumebachi. --125.172.70.98 (talk) 14:09, 23 April 2008 (UTC)


[edit] Info Request

I would really like to get some more details about this hornets venom into the article, if anybody can find any. I wasn't too successful in tuning up much more than some very techy chemical journal abstracts, and the information there really wasn't encyclopedic.

By the way, if anybody interested in this topic gets a chance to see the National Geographic Explorer program mentioned in this article, I highly recommend it. ClockworkTroll 22:57, 20 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Killer Bees

I wonder if the Giant Hornet can be introduced into killer bee populations to control or even eliminate the killer bee problem. --Admiral Roo 10:14, July 21, 2005 (UTC)

Wow, you don't read many fables, do you? :)207.127.128.2 15:45, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

I suppose, but wouldn't that create a new, bigger problem? 152.163.101.6 14:27, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Killer bees are much better than giant hornets. Plus i dont think asian hornets can survive in killer bee areas.

History (and spectacular failures) has shown us that such biological control very often backfires, and the result tends to be two destructive invasive species instead of one. – ClockworkSoul 14:43, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vespa mandarinia

This brings back memories when I was attending high school in Aichi Japan. During the spring and summer a Vespa mandarinia would occasionally fly into the classroom. When this happened class would stop and everyone would rush out of the room. Initially, not realizing that this was no ordinary Yellow Jacket I flicked one of the desk, rolled up a newspaper and swatted it outside like a baseball. After I was done I realized that everyone was looking at me like I was crazy and began questioned my foolish intent. After taking the time to listen, I realized I had just escaped what could have turned out to be a tragic ending to a common situation. Some of my friends told me that these hornets have been known to hunt birds, yet I have found no evidence of such an occurrence.

That's crazy. I'd be scared out of my mind... I can barely handle the wasps and bees we have HERE in Pennsylvania... I'm going to Japan this summer, and will be going to school there as a guest on occasion... How often did this Vespa mandarinia occurance happen to you? 68.70.136.127 07:07, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
         Damn, that's some scary ****. I wish I could genocide all hornets in the world, I really hate 
         flying insects. --80.227.100.62 08:54, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Question

Does anyone know how long these hornets live? Is it one year or multiple years?

[edit] i hate hornets enough already

the first time i heard about this i saw it on tv and it was really scary. i hate yellowjackets and hornets enough because they are so annoying. but this one is actually just scary. ok, someone made a comment about introducing them to north america to fight killer bees.... NO. WHAT THE HELL DONT EVEN JOKE ABOUT THAT.

[edit] Japanese Hornet

Hi, my name is Shawn and I live in Dayton, Ohio. I recently encountered what seems to be a large Japanese hornet in my back yard. I would like to know if they are a threat to my dogs or myself. I would also like to know if anyone else has encountered them in the U.S.? If so, what is the best way to exterminate them. Thank you.71.65.67.199 00:25, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Shawn - you might have a European hornet - see Characteristics of common wasps and bees and for info hornet. Only after you have identified the specimen, and determined that it is a threat to you (European hornets are perfectly safe), contact a local pest control company. If you need more help use my user page. Widefox 02:24, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vespa mandarinia or V. velutina?

Vespa mandarinia is usually known as the Japanese hornet, whereas v.velutina is the Asian hornet.I'm not an expert, but it might be worth taking another look at the information in this article as it's potentially confusing. 62.25.109.195 15:04, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] more doubt about this

We stay in the Champawat district of Uttarakhand, India, at an altitude of about 6,500 feet. The locally called "tiger bee", which preys on bees especially and makes beekeeping a difficult endeavour in these parts, matches the description of the Asian giant tiger bee. A native Japanese person staying here tells me that the Suzumebachi is not the same as our local "Tiger bee": for the Japanese insect is yellow and brown, whereas this insect is orange and black. Moreover, the Japanese insect is liable to attack, being quite aggressive, whereas this insect does not seem to be aggressive. Also, the Japanese insect lives in some kind of hanging nest, whereas this one is said to nest in holes in the ground. And, the bands on this local insect's thorax are orange, not yellow, and the coloured lines are very thin indeed.

Also, our Japanese source says that while the Japanese do eat the larva of certain kinds of wasps, they do not eat the larvae of the Suzumebachi, but of smaller varieties. So this section on the culinary aspects of wasps in Japan may need to be moved to a different article. Sw.my (talk) 06:04, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

See this link: Vespa mandarinia: The "Tiger Bee" of Uttarakhand is a dark variant of the Japanese strain of Vespa mandarinia. A section on "Variants" could be added, with photos and descriptions of this and any other variants. Sw.my (talk) 03:18, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Honey bee nest raiding instinct

Here's a question. The Japanese hornet seems to be able to take out an entire European honey bee nest very efficiently and methodically. If the Japanese honey bee evolved to a point where can defend their nest so well (killing the scout before it can notify the others), how did the Japanese hornet still "know" how to do the raid once the European honey bee was introduced? After a while (before the European honey bee was introduced) I would think the hornet's nest-raiding instincts would go dormant if it was constantly failing generation after generation. And thus would eventually avoid bee nests all together. 65.213.220.62 19:50, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

I would expect that either the Japanese honeybee defense is not perfect and does not always work (most prey animals have some defence against their predators and often the predator's hunting efficiency is pretty low, say 10%) and/or the hornet attacks other native social insects that do not have this defence. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 79.74.39.10 (talk) 20:51, August 22, 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Contact person

It would bee helpfull to get a link to a person who could direct you to were you could see sutch a magnificent animal.

Bengtjurs 20:19, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Similar Language in National Geographic article

The text "it takes only a few of these hornets a few hours to exterminate the population of a 30,000-member hive, leaving a trail of severed insect heads and limbs" is remarkably similar to text from this 2002 National Geographic article: "a handful of the creatures can slaughter 30,000 European honeybees within hours, leaving a trail of severed insect heads and limbs." It's entirely possible that the NG article borrowed from this one, but maybe it deserves a look? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.220.254.66 (talk) 20:05, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Sighting

I would like to know if I should report a sighting of an Asian giant hornet? If so where and to who? It was seen in St. Mary's County, Maryland on May 7th 2008. It was seen by three people.--Olegal2 (talk) 20:34, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Sighting

I would like to know if I should report a sighting of an Asian giant hornet? If so where and to who? It was seen in St. Mary's County, Maryland on May 7th 2008. It was seen by three people.--Olegal2 (talk) 20:34, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Some sightings have been reported here but no citation was given. Does anyone have links to prove the sightings? --89.59.21.211 (talk) 07:55, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Sighting in Philadelphia, PA

I believe one of these hornets got into my house yesterday for the SECOND time. I was VERY surprised by the size of this hornet. This time, instead of releasing it outside, I have it in a jar so I could do research on what kind of hornet it is. The closest thing I could find in resemblence and size is the Asian giant hornet, then I saw there have been sightings of it on the east coast.

Does anyone know where or how I can get this hornet confirmed?? I still have it.

-May 26th, 2008, Bee sighting (talk) 13:05, 26 May 2008 (UTC)