If you think you’ve seen a Northern Giant Hornet this summer in your backyard, you probably haven’t. Northern Giant Hornets, formerly known as Asian Giant Hornets, and sensationally known as Murder Hornets, were all the rave in the media in 2020 and 2021. They are still on people’s minds, although they have been successfully controlled in the limited location they were originally found, and no new colonies have been discovered in 2022 or 2023.
Northern Giant Hornets got their name “murder hornet” from the fact that they will annihilate a honey bee hive. They definitely will NOT murder a human, although I’m sure the sting is pretty painful. Thankfully, they were never near Texas, but way up in northern Washington State, near the Canadian border.
So, if you think you’ve seen one, or know someone who thinks they have, it is most likely that they haven’t. Instead, they’ve probably seen one of our native wasps – the Cicada Killer Wasp. We have a few species, and depending on the species, gender, and how well its diet is, they can be HUGE! And sometimes they are not that much smaller than the Northern Giant Hornet.
Female Cicada Killer Wasps burrow holes in the ground to lay their eggs. They capture cicadas and carry them down into the burrows to provide for their young, which helps control the annual cicada population. Females can sting, but they are not at all interested in doing so, unless you pick one up or step on one. In my nearly 20 years as an entomologist, I’ve never known a dog, cat or human to be stung by a female. Males are territorial, and they’ll buzz by your head and scare the daylights out of you. But nature is ironic, and males have no stinger, so they literally are all buzz and no sting.
I cringe when I hear about people knocking down Cicada Killer Wasps with wasp spray, tennis rackets, or whatever means they have. These are wonderful creatures and not at all a threat to us! They thrive when their food source is in abundance – during the dog days of summer. You’ll start to see fewer of them come September, but they’ll be back next year! Help me educate people to understand that we are not in threat of Northern Giant Hornets invading Texas. Cicada Killer Wasps are native, normal, and won’t ruin your time outside.
