Yellow Jackets on steroids?

[Jakester]

My wife and I recently visited the Biltmore Estate in No. Carolina, while checking out the gardens I noticed(always checking out the bees) some VERY large ( looks kinda like a yellow jacket) bee in the same flowers as the honey bees.
I have never seen anything like it before ( we live in NH) .Anyone know anything about this huge critter?...It looked pretty nasty!

[Swobee]

There is a wasp known as the Cicada Killer, I don't know the scientific name, but they're impressively large. I also don't know if they use nectar or not. But, they have a stinger about 3/4" long that hinges from their abdomen - and don't sting people. A cicada gets stung, becomes paralyzed and then these wasps are big enough to haul one off like a large military helicopter transports tanks and such.

Just a shot in the dark, but I've witnessed these huge wasps in action and they are quite big.

[blaine]

Yup. Sounds like what he said.

They are BIG, Noisy, and quite impressive. Good thing they are not agressive. Even if they had no venom at all, the size of the stinger would poke a rather large deep and painful hole in ya.

They kill Cicada's, and fly with them back to their underground lair, where they feed their young.


Blaine

[Jack Grimshaw]

Cicada killer

http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?s...cius+speciosus

[pbaumeister]

I have dealt with these a few times. I don't believe they are very aggressive, but they are quite freightening for people. They seem to live near other nests, however, they are a solitary bee. I have never known them to be aggressive towards honey bees.

[iddee]

Or possibly this one??????

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