Getting a little bit too close to the bees?

[Tel]

Technically a hoverfly and totally harmless considering it has no sting what-so-ever but its the closest I've ever got to any yellow and black stripy critters

 

[Marky_Mark]

Technically a hoverfly and totally harmless considering it has no sting what-so-ever but its the closest I've ever got to any yellow and black stripy critters

Very nice indeed

 

[JDar]

That's a text book example of a hoverfly, whatever that is. Very nice!

 

[sushi]

Vespa mandarinia

Holly Cow Batman!

http://www.hornissenschutz.de/manda.htm

Seen one of these in person. Scary!

 

[Tel]

That is one scary little bugger

At least my little critter was technically part of the fly family so the worst it could do was to vomit on me

Seen one of these in person. Scary!

Did you happen to run very fast in the other direction when you see that?

 

[sushi]

Did you happen to run very fast in the other direction when you see that?

At first I did a double take since it was so big.

When I realized what is was -- a big wasp like insect -- I slowly moved away.

After reading information on these critters, it is just as well I didn't run as he could have easily caught me and stung me.

As I mentioned earlier, unlike a bee, wasps can continue to sting you indefinitely. Even if a wasp's rear portion is separated from the rest of the body, it will continue to sting.

If you haven't seen it, you might want to watch the National Geographic special called, "Hornets from Hell". It's a good flick.

BTW, in the picture that you posted from the site, I wonder how that person got the hornet to stay on his hand without stinging him. As Dr. Masato Ono, an entomologist at Tamagawa University, near Tokyo, said after being stung, it's "like a hot nail through my leg."

 

[sushi]

I love bees. Taken on my garden wall last summer - you can see the pollen grains on his lil' hairy body! I won a recent nature comp with this one.

Very nice pic. Cool that you can see the pollen.

 

[Marky_Mark]

**** me Tel! That is one seriously large *******! It's like it's from the Valley of Death or something!

 

[Tel]

**** me Tel! That is one seriously large *******! It's like it's from the Valley of Death or something!

Tell me about it! Wouldn't want to get too close to that. Check out the link that sushi posted, thats where I got the image, there's even more there.