So I walk into my house for lunch today (like I usually do) and noticed a japanese hornet flying around the dining room. I take my shoes off to get down to business when I hear "bzzz bzzz" way too close to be the hornet I'm looking at and feel something latch on to the back of my neck. The next few minutes were not fun...


Compared to a quarter(s)... they looked bigger irl than it seems in the picture.


Pretty sure it's not a japanese hornet... just what I've alway heard people call giant hornets. WTF is the other bug?


I'm pretty sure the unknown bug was trying to burrow into my spinal cord (what it felt like anyways).

[Edited on August 6, 2009 at 1:01 PM. Reason : big picture]

8/6/2009 1:00:40 PM

Holy fuck I'm shivering now.

8/6/2009 1:03:12 PM

mount them on your wall

8/6/2009 1:05:56 PM

It's a cicada:

8/6/2009 1:06:53 PM

yeah, we used to find their shedded exoskeletons or whatever on the pine trees around our house when we were kids

[Edited on August 6, 2009 at 1:10 PM. Reason : like, they shed the exoskeleton and emerge w/ wings and fly away]

8/6/2009 1:09:43 PM

Quote :

"Cicadas are benign to humans and do not bite or sting, but can be pests to several cultivated crops. Many people around the world regularly eat cicadas: the female is prized as it is meatier. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada

8/6/2009 1:11:54 PM

those days were fun

8/6/2009 1:12:10 PM

mmmm

meaty females

8/6/2009 1:12:29 PM

Quote :

"It's a cicada"

good call... after reviewing wikipedia I concur... I used to see cicada all the time at my parent's house but I always thought they looked more like grasshoppers than this thing does. As for the whole they don't bite thing, I don't have a bite or anything on my neck but the bastard was clinched on there for all he was worth.

Quote :

"mount them on your wall"

I briefly entertained the idea of chopping the heads off and putting them on toothpicks outside the door as a warning to the others.

[Edited on August 6, 2009 at 1:15 PM. Reason : ]

8/6/2009 1:13:37 PM

Quote :

"I used to see cicada all the time at my parents house but I always thought they looked more like grasshoppers than this thing does."

The more grasshopper looking one is a locust. The difference between cicadas and locusts is generally confused by people.

8/6/2009 1:15:47 PM

fareako dabbles in entomology

8/6/2009 1:17:07 PM

Nah, I just live in the south where we see them bitches all the time.

8/6/2009 1:17:35 PM

yeah, after seeing the leftover shells on the trees for a long time i finally looked them up in this "North American Wildlife" book i had when i was a kid

8/6/2009 1:18:40 PM

Cicada was my guess too. Never heard of them going on people though, unless it was trying to hide from the hornet or something. Maybe its a giant horsefly? This one pic is from 'Carolina Nature'





After looking at the wings and eyes, probably not a giant horsefly.


[Edited on August 6, 2009 at 1:20 PM. Reason : another pic, another website]

8/6/2009 1:19:21 PM

no, it's definitely a circada

8/6/2009 1:19:56 PM

It probably was just flying around dumbly, that's what I've observed them doing all the time. They haul balls flying around with seemingly no flight path. A few have run into me while I was playing outside as a kid.

[Edited on August 6, 2009 at 1:22 PM. Reason : RED NECKS ITT]

8/6/2009 1:20:57 PM

Yeah, agreed. Just exploring everything

My dog picked one up on one of her walks and it was buzzing loudly in her mouth

8/6/2009 1:22:11 PM

Quote :

"After looking at the wings and eyes, probably not a giant horsefly."

Yea it's hard to tell from the picture (crappy camera) but the eyes are definitely the dead giveaway.

I used to see the cicada shells around as a kid, but I guess I always had them confused with the locust. I'm just glad the hornet wasn't bigger. I've had a run in with a hornet in my garage like the one pictured here except it was bigger (about the length of my index finger) and solid smack with my flip-flop wasn't enough to kill it, but it did retreat.

[Edited on August 6, 2009 at 1:36 PM. Reason : ]

8/6/2009 1:29:59 PM

at that gif

8/6/2009 1:31:51 PM

The green one with the big wings = cicada (i know, that's already been confirmed)

The hornet-looking thing is actually called a "cicada killer" (Sphecius speciosus). It's a very large type of wasp that lives a mostly solitary life, digs burrows in the ground that it drags the cicada to, where it leaves the paralyzed cicada after it lays its eggs. The eggs hatch, eat the cicada, then emerge after they've grown to the adult wasp stage.


[Edited on August 6, 2009 at 2:04 PM. Reason : img]

8/6/2009 2:03:02 PM

It would have been funny if that wasp attacked that Cicada while it was on you.

8/6/2009 2:07:18 PM

and then pull it into your ear and lay eggs in the carcass and then in a few weeks the little wasps hatch in your fucking head and eat your brain when they're done w/ the cicada

8/6/2009 2:09:29 PM

Quote :

"The hornet-looking thing is actually called a "cicada killer" (Sphecius speciosus). It's a very large type of wasp that lives a mostly solitary life, digs burrows in the ground that it drags the cicada to, where it leaves the paralyzed cicada after it lays its eggs. The eggs hatch, eat the cicada, then emerge after they've grown to the adult wasp stage."

That explains the holes in the front yard. I've been debating on wether or not I should dump some gas down those holes... although I'm sure it's illegal knowing g'boro.

^^,^ I'm pretty sure that is what that fucker had planned.

8/6/2009 2:12:16 PM

That Cicada was like "Help me jethromoore. Help MEeeeeeee!!!!" and you just got your kill on.

8/6/2009 2:23:49 PM

Cold hearted.

8/6/2009 2:29:37 PM

i watched a "cicada killer" take a cicada out of the air, to the ground and then CARRY the damn thing off like a hawk with a fish

it was crazy cool to watch...i went to grab my camera while they were still on the ground, but he took off before i could get close enough

8/6/2009 2:31:25 PM

Today we are all cicadae.

[Edited on August 6, 2009 at 2:34 PM. Reason : pl.]

8/6/2009 2:34:14 PM

Don't torch the cicada killers, they're extremely non-aggressive. Males do not have stingers and females won't sting unless you grab it or something. They're beneficial and kind of cool, despite being scary looking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_cicada_killer

8/6/2009 3:12:47 PM

Quote :

"They're beneficial and kind of cool, despite being scary looking."

They're color pattern resembles a hornet's or bee's and probably was the result of some evolution over time to make them look meaner than they are.

8/6/2009 3:22:47 PM