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Project Noah Nature School
Sphecius speciosus
We found this giant hornet wrestling and then conquering a cicada on our front step. As you can see, the hornet is about as big as the cicada. She managed to anesthetize or kill the cicada, and then dragged the cicada off around the side of the house. It was astounding to watch. We searched and it fits the description of the "cicada killer" hornet.
Suburban neighborhood
Spotted on Aug 24, 2011
Submitted on Aug 24, 2011
7 Comments
Great capture!
Wow! Life and death on your doorstep!
Wow.. nice information.. I like.. your study work..!!
Glad he wasn't trying to sting me! Great experience.
Thanks, Ashish!
Hayley--I just read that the males can't even sting: http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/cimg3...
The females can, but are not aggressive towards animals or humans.
I guess they're just so huge that rumors of enormous stingers are bound to develop!
Nice work.. True part in web of life..!!
i heard their stingers are like an inch and a half long