Mutant Yellowjackets being introduced?

The ones Ive seen look Identical to the pic's in your second link. The pic in the first link you provided is close, but what Ive seen doesnt have hairs on them and are not stubby.

Well, it not only appears that Kentucky has the biggest wasp ever seen, but also scorpion.?

www.uky.edu...



The reason I brought this up is I have an uncle that lives close to bardstown, and I was talking to him this morning. We got on the subject of these huge bees. He told be he sees them prey on SCORPIONS! Apparently, these scorpions are about 1 1/2 to 2 inches, dark, and pack quit a punch with thier stings. I thought he was joking about the scorpions, but he swore up and down it was true. I got hom, searched for a minute and the found this link.

So now we have a giant wasp that eats scorpions. I think Im going to move

I still haven't seen anything posted on this thread that looks quite like what I saw...

That European hornet was SIMILAR...but not quite. What I saw had blood red eyes...a much deeper shade of red than the European Hornet (although that could be due to lighting in that picture). Also, the one I saw didn't have prevalent hairs like the European Hornet. And, the one I saw had more black than yellow in its striping...and the stinger itself was solid black...

I'd like to get to the bottom of this...it's weird beyond words. Weird, because I've observed nature carefully through much of my lifetime and I go on a LOT of hikes. Seen plenty of HUGE horseflies (a bigger fear of mine than hornets)...huge waterbugs...but I've never seen anything like this bee/yellowjacket/hornet

Was this what you saw?

www.uky.edu...

If it is, its a cicada killer wasp. Nasty little buggers. Well, not so little. I think the site said they get up to two inches.

Here's another picture, next to a ruler:
www.ext.vt.edu...
Thankfully, I've never seen one and hope it stays that way!!!!!

Someone early on in this thread said yellowjackets are more prolific at this time of year and that is why they are nastier.
Actually, ONLY the queen survivies the winter.
So, she must start the colony new each spring. The numbers are obviously quite small in the begiining of the warm weather. So, they may be just as masty but so few in number no one notices.
But September and October, the numbers are HUGE. You runa a much better chance to eno#er one and get stung. And, they will follow you around...I guess looking for food. It's best not to wear fragrance in the warm months as it WILL attract them. They are easily antagonized. And, I think I've heard that killing one will release a pheronome that calls others to the scene.

WOW. I've got the same phobia of bees as everyone else. I once jumped out of a moving car in Ethopia after what our guide had identified as "The largest species of bee in Africa," flew in. I was kinda hysterical for the next few hours, and had to be brought back to civilization.

Anyway, this is BAD. I start screaming when I see a butterfly, much less an enormous bee.