![]() Cicada killers, however, may cause alarm due to the males’ territorial behavior, dive-bombing or buzzing people and animals that walk into their territory. The cicada killer and wood wasps, however, are solitary and thus do not aggressively protect their nesting sites by attacking in large numbers, Davis said. The Asian giant hornets also are fiercely protective of their nests and will deploy painful stings that can cause fatal allergic reactions in people already sensitive to bee stings. The Asian giant hornet preys on bees and can decimate local honey bee populations, essential for most fruit and vegetable crop production. Horntails lack any appearance of a waist. However, there is one trait that is easy to spot that is different, and that is the waist. They are large, have a distinct head that is as wide or wider than the thorax, and may share the same coloration as the Asian giant hornet. ![]() The other group of insects that are most commonly confused with the Asian giant hornet are the horntail or wood wasps. But there is no contrasting color between the head and thorax and the stripes are jagged on the western cicada killer. The western cicada killer is closer in color to the Asian giant hornet, being reddish brown and yellow. The eastern cicada killer tends to be black and yellow. But the stripes on the abdomen will be jagged and sometimes look like mountains. The head and the thorax are typically the same color, a darker orange or brown color. But they will all typically have a head that is narrower than the thorax. The cicada killers, of which there are three different species here in Texas, are also quite large, measuring 1-1.5 inches in length. It has a much smaller or pinched waist, and smooth-looking brown and orange stripes cover the abdomen. The thorax, or shoulder portion where the wings and legs are connected, is a dark brown, as are the antenna. It has a head as wide or wider than its shoulders, where the wings and legs are located, and it is a bright orange or yellow. The Asian giant hornet is the world’s largest known hornet, measuring 1.5-2 inches in length. It is understandable how non-entomologists would have trouble deciding which was which.” “Eighty percent of these have been either the eastern cicada killer or western cicada killer. “To date, we have identified hundreds of insects that people in Texas suspect might be Asian giant hornets (murder hornets),” Porter said. Holly Davis, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service entomologist in Weslaco, and Pat Porter, AgriLife Extension entomologist in Lubbock, recently developed a short video explaining the differences between the “murder hornet” and several common lookalikes here in Texas. While some people thought they had been seeing the newly pictured murder hornets for years, AgriLife Extension experts want to clarify, “No, you haven’t.” Now they are providing outlets to help tell the difference between the Asian giant hornet and similar looking pests. “With the most recent news of the Asian giant hornet, they are now paying attention to the native Texas insect.” ![]() “Most everyone has seen the cicada killer wasp that is very large, but has mostly been ignored in the past,” Ragsdale said. Greg Abbott to request a task force be mobilized to prepare Texas against the Asian giant hornet’s arrival.īut June is the normal month for the cicada killer wasp, a common large wasp in Texas, to start showing up, and this prompted posts on social media mistakenly reporting cicada killer wasps as sightings of the Asian giant hornet. In May, the concern about Asian giant hornet was enough to prompt Gov. ![]() He said their website receives five to 10 photos a day, and agency pest management agents and specialists around the state have also been handling inquiries. While the agency wants to continue to encourage Texans to be vigilant in watching for the Asian giant hornet, they also want to help provide guidance that will help narrow the focus.ĭavid Ragsdale, chief scientific officer and associate director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research and professor in the Department of Entomology, said many photos of Texas native cicada killers, or ground hornets, are being submitted as suspected Asian giant hornets. Since the release of information about Asian giant hornets, Texas A&M AgriLife entomologists are being inundated with cicada killers and other lookalike insects submitted for identification as a possible “murder hornet,” which thus far has only been found in Washington state in the U.S. ![]()
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