What's This For Wasp Like Insect?

[Crypt36]

Nipping from a dirty towel on my balcony today this huge wasp like fly, what is it?

[bina]

dont know but dont like it.!

bina

[sbk]

Its a nasty wasp. Its not a maeng mah bah, I think those are all black. But, its a nasty wasp. Steer well clear.

bina, love your answer.

[Crypt36]

No I don't either!

Last year I was having barbecue on my balcony and about this time of the year for a week every night this swarm of giant wasps would show up attracted to my lamp. Was making a steak yesterday evening and one of em showed up again

Time to buy some cans of pestillence again!

[GarryP]

Actually, I see these types of wasps quite often. When my wife puts out fish or other meat to sun dry they turn up and bite chunks out of the meat. I have stood over them while they were doing this and you can actaully watch them cutting out the chunks of meat. Interesting really. They have never bothered me but then they usually only appear in ones or twos. It would be a different matter if there was a swarm of them. My wife tells me they have a nasty sting but then again they haven't appeared aggresive to me.

[GarryP]

Searched the net and finally found what I was looking for. It is a vespa tropica. Apparently, near the nest they are quite aggressive but much less so away from the nest. They have been responsible for a number of fatalities.

[Crypt36]

Must be comming for the blood in the towel... My rawfed cat and dog leave blood all over the place haha

Thanx

[chinnotes]

So far 18 different wasps and hornets have been found in Thailand. In Thai they are called ต่อหัวเสือ (tiger head hornet). The species that visited you is called ต่อหลุม (grave hornet), as they mostly (although not always) have their nests underground or in a tree hollow..

These hornets usually hunt bees and other insects, and they attack the nests of other wasps in oder to obtain their larvae to feed their own larvae.

Hier is a link with pictures of the development of this hornet:

http://www.gunsandgames.com/smf/index.php?...Bprev_next=next

Erwin

[Trickcyclist]

see one or two every day in garden. They never seem to act aggressively.

dont know but dont like it.!

bina