• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Big Wasp

I'll try to find the article, but I recall reading something a year or two ago which may add some mystery back into this thread...

I think it was in New Zealand, but a tree fell down in an elderly woman's yard. She went out to investigate and found these 7-inch wasp-like things crawling out of the trunk. The story said that she had someone capture one in a jar, but I've never heard any more on it...I'll post a link if I can find it. For what it's worth, it may have even been reported on this website....
 
MercuryCrest, thank you for bumping this thread, I'd never seen it before! I remember the woman with the huge waspy things in her tree, but I thought it was in the US somewhere... never saw a followup either.
But I did see, in my parents' garden in the Scottish Borders, three years ago, a bloody huge wasp. It flew onto a sort of chickenwire fence just outside the back door and crawled around for a bit. It was a good 7 or 8 cm long, including a scary-looking stinger or ovipositor, whichever it was - it was easy to judge scale because the mesh on the chickenwire was 1cm. The closest thing I could find on the internet was the Japanese hornet someone mentioned, but it still seemed pretty big for one of those, and if that's what it was, if it was in Scotland, it was very VERY lost. It was August, if that's relevant at all.
For your entertainment, this is the text conversation I had with my mum, who was out playing golf at the time:
Me: "enormous wasp thing in back garden, what the hell is it?"
Her: "don't know - insect book in upstairs bedroom"
Me: "right, I'll hit it with that".
Needless to say I didn't - I have respect, even for giant mutant waspfreaks, and anyway, I had no intention of getting close enough to hit it with anything. I just watched it for a couple of minutes, and then went inside, closing the door very firmly.
Sounds very much like the things John and Mythopoeika saw.
 
I was sitting on a bench next to a female friend in Germany, in the forest next to a small lake.
Next thing, I hear a deep drone and look around to see this thing hovering at the back of my friends head.
It looked just like an English wasp except that instead of being bright yellow and black, it was more light and dark brown bands.
I would say it was about 3 inches long, and I was about 2 feet away from it.
My friend didnt seem worried, she told me it was a hornet and that recently six of them had killed a horse.
 
Hey there Mercury Crest, it sounds to me like the thing that crawled out of the fallen tree was a weta. They're the largest true insects in the world, apparently. I've worked in the NZ bush and have seen them a couple of times. There are several types and there is one particular type that likes rotting trees.
They're amazing creatures, and can survive all manner of abuse, from freezing, to having head and body severed.
They sometimes have wings.
http://weta.boarsnest.net/coverpic.jpg
 
Er... I wouldn't want to meet this creature on a dark night. How big do they get?
 
I can indeed see someone describing that...thing (shudder) with wings as "wasp-like". Thanks for the pic.[/i]
 
Quake said:
Er... I wouldn't want to meet this creature on a dark night. How big do they get?
Click to expand...

Agh! I've stumbled across one of those things in NZ, when I was picking apples. IRL I think they get to about 12cm; in my memory, about the size of a sofa cushion.
 
Quake said:
Er... I wouldn't want to meet this creature on a dark night. How big do they get?
Click to expand...

They may look formidable but they're really gentle, lovely things. And yes, they can grow to an impressive size. The 'Giant Weta', reaching impressive proportions. Sorry, I can't find exact size limits but I'm sure you could find out with a bit of canny search engine use.
Recently, I believe I found one in my kitchen cupboard. I say 'believe' because, at the time I was thinking that it was a grasshopper - a very +BIG+ grasshopper. They're rarely seen in populated areas.
There's many types of wetas. Okay, so anyway, I have cupboards with gaps between the floors, with venting to the outside of the house. It's an old house and I guess the cupboard would've acted as a cooling device. Anyway, through the gaps in the floor between the bottom and the middle cupboard (three stacked one-on-one), I noticed these weird things wiggling and couldn't quite make out what I was looking at. Then, it jumped between the gap and I just went "WTF?". Huge back legs, exactly as in this picture, here.
http://tinyurl.com/axv25
Although it wasn't as big as the one in the picture. I live in a large city - Christchurch, and that's why my first instinct was 'grasshopper'. But, the thing was huge, relatively speaking, and I have to admit, I didn't go into the cupboard for a couple of days hoping the thing had made its way outside. At least, I hope it has done so because Weta's are quite beautiful, strong, interesting. It must've been around four centimetres long, and then add in the antennae that were wiggling around.
They're held in such high regard, that the animation company that won an academy award for LOTR was called, "Weta Productions", or something similar.
Oops, sorry.., I've taken this somewhat off topic.
http://tinyurl.com/a4jdm
http://tinyurl.com/9po82

There's heaps of pics and information regarding these extraordinary, and quite harmless creatures. At least, harmless to us.
;)
 
The link in post #1 is long dead. Here's the complete text, salvaged from the Wayback Machine ...

-------------------------------------------

Big Wasp

John

Around 9 or 10 months ago (A hot day as I remember), I was coming home from a friend's house and on my route to my journey way home I walked past this garage. I useally always walk past this garage from my way home and something caught my eye on the wall next to the door to the garage.


What I saw was a massive wasp (I can guess it was around 10 or 12 cm long and it's wingspan was around 6 cm.) I was startled by what I found, however it wasn't moving and just remained on the wall. I watched the creature for about 30 seconds but I wasn't brave enough to disturb it.

I started to walk away and from the bottom end of the road and I could still see its body. I don't know where the wasp came from and thought perhaps it was an breed of a queen wasp.

I never saw the wasp again.

--------------------------------------------

SALVAGED FROM: https://web.archive.org/web/20070130012946/http://www.forteantimes.com:80/happened/bigwasp.shtml
 
NEVER want to meet one that big !...this reminded me of a few years ago though. Fiance and myself were out in Evesham.. Paying for an item in a charity shop, Ifelt a sharp sting on my neck. Left the shop and after a very short time started to feel rather unwell. Pharmacist wasn't in the chemists , told best to pop into local small hospital round the corner. Anyway (sorry to be long-winded) turns out I was having an allergic reaction and was happy to get their help. We went to a local café as we had spent a while there. I opened my purse and out came presumably the very wasp that had stung me ! Cheeky thing had hitched a ride, my other half put it out the window and it went on it's merry way. Sorry nothing paranormal there.! but,might make people smile.
 
I found a wasp in my shirt collar once. Naturally, I didn't flap about and scream like a little girl when this happened. Of course not. Seriously. Much.
 
The biggest wasps I've ever had to deal with were wood wasps in Staffordshire when I'd got home from school one day in the eighties .. I used a can of my big sister's hairspray and a cigarette lighter like Bill Paxton in ALIENS .. the bastards were even flying through the flames at me ..
 
I was riding my bike to a friend's house after dark and I felt the most vicious sting/bite on the back of my arm. I was apace down a back country road littered with pea gravel at the time...one learns to keep one's composer during such situations...until I could get the bike to a stop, rip off my jacket and flail around like an acid-head having a flashback.

Still don't know what it was that stung/bit me, but that was fierce and it didn't at all feel like a wasp or bee sting.
 
MercuryCrest said:
I was riding my bike to a friend's house after dark and I felt the most vicious sting/bite on the back of my arm. I was apace down a back country road littered with pea gravel at the time...one learns to keep one's composer during such situations...until I could get the bike to a stop, rip off my jacket and flail around like an acid-head having a flashback.

Still don't know what it was that stung/bit me, but that was fierce and it didn't at all feel like a wasp or bee sting.
Click to expand...

It might have been a spider, if they get inquisitive and start crawling into clothes, they can react badly if disturbed - Adam Buxton described this happening to him on one of his podcasts.
 
GNC said:
I found a wasp in my shirt collar once. Naturally, I didn't flap about and scream like a little girl when this happened. Of course not. Seriously. Much.
Click to expand...
I 'm a bit bothered by them now ...worried about having a reaction to it again, luckily I was near the hospital and ice and antihistamines did the trick .
 
Coyote “What were my parents thinking?” Peterson allows himself to be stung by a Japanese Giant Hornet:


Enjoy other episodes in the series, which includes other creatures of my nightmares including the Giant Desert Centipede and the charmingly-named Cow Killer.

maximus otter
 
Last edited:
Anonymous said:
Hey there Mercury Crest, it sounds to me like the thing that crawled out of the fallen tree was a weta. They're the largest true insects in the world, apparently. I've worked in the NZ bush and have seen them a couple of times. There are several types and there is one particular type that likes rotting trees.
They're amazing creatures, and can survive all manner of abuse, from freezing, to having head and body severed.
They sometimes have wings.
http://weta.boarsnest.net/coverpic.jpg
Click to expand...

Can I just point out Wetas in New Zealand are pretty common and anyone who has a woodburner will find a few in their woodpile. I don't think any Kiwi would be fazed by them. They are a bugger to shake off if you pick one up as they have hooked feet.

Giant Wetas are really rare though and ive not seen a live one.
 
Last edited:
MercuryCrest said:
I was riding my bike to a friend's house after dark and I felt the most vicious sting/bite on the back of my arm. I was apace down a back country road littered with pea gravel at the time...one learns to keep one's composer during such situations...until I could get the bike to a stop, rip off my jacket and flail around like an acid-head having a flashback.

Still don't know what it was that stung/bit me, but that was fierce and it didn't at all feel like a wasp or bee sting.
Click to expand...
I was once driving down a major road on a summer's day, or what passes for one in England. Probably doing 50-60mph. A wasp came in through the open window and hit me just above the right ear. It managed to sting me as it, presumably, expired. There's a lot of momentum at that speed, even for something so light. I did manage to keep control, but I did have to pull over and spend some time in wondrous contemplation of the marvels of nature. This noble pursuit may have been accompanied by sundry yells, expletives, and sobbed imprecations to make the pain stop. Man, it hurt.
 
this post refers to a beyond creepy video with account of giant bee, including a photo of said bee, scale indeterminate ...
 
Krepostnoi said:
I was once driving down a major road on a summer's day, or what passes for one in England. Probably doing 50-60mph. A wasp came in through the open window and hit me just above the right ear. It managed to sting me as it, presumably, expired. There's a lot of momentum at that speed, even for something so light. I did manage to keep control, but I did have to pull over and spend some time in wondrous contemplation of the marvels of nature. This noble pursuit may have been accompanied by sundry yells, expletives, and sobbed imprecations to make the pain stop. Man, it hurt.
Click to expand...

A Bumble bee at 60mph is like being hit with a stone, knocking my helmet right back. But most scary was a wasp at 60mph inside my helmet visor once- it kept crawling out of my line of vision.
 
On a relevant related note: what do we call the effect via which animals/insects look dangerous (by virtue especially of their colouring) and are dangerous?

'Evolution' is too broad a term: what is the biological (or perhaps psychobiological) word for 'dangerous-looking indicates the potential for a hazardous encounter'?

This warning colour-schema can, of course, be borrowed by other non-risky animals / plants (via convergent evolution), or in the case of humans, directly-emulated as an avoidance marker....the ejector seat activation switch in a fighter jet aircraft looks very like a giant robotic wasp.

So: what is the morphonomic term for what I'll try calling scare-striping?
 
Ermintruder said:
... 'Evolution' is too broad a term: what is the biological (or perhaps psychobiological) word for 'dangerous-looking indicates the potential for a hazardous encounter'?
Click to expand...

Aposematism

This warning colour-schema can, of course, be borrowed by other non-risky animals / plants (via convergent evolution), or in the case of humans, directly-emulated as an avoidance marker... So: what is the morphonomic term for what I'll try calling scare-striping?[/QUOTE]

Batesian mimicry
 
EnolaGaia said:
Aposematism
Click to expand...

EnolaGaia said:
Batesian mimicry
Click to expand...

Fascinating. I understood the concept, but never knew the terminology until now. Thank you so much, @EnolaGaia

I now have just become acquainted with the related (hitherto-unbeknown, to me) term of Unkenreflex warnings (viz unkenreflex is characterized by the subject’s contortion or arching of its body to reveal previously hidden bright colors of the ventral side, tail, or inner limb; the subject remains immobile while in unkenreflex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unkenreflex)
 
A few years ago, we had a holiday on the lovely Croatian island of Brac (pronounced "brach" ) and I recall there were surprisingly large wasps that would bug you (sorry!) when you were dining al fresco. Some were almost totally black too, with just some dull yellow/brown splodges. I took this photo of one on a plant near our table at a restaurant terrace in the coastal town of Supetar. I estimated the wasp (if that is indeed what it was) was at least 5cm / 2 inches in length.

PSX_20181127_091038.jpg
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
A few years ago, we had a holiday on the lovely Croatian island of Brac (pronounced "brach" ) and I recall there were surprisingly large wasps that would bug you (sorry!) when you were dining al fresco. Some were almost totally black too, with just some dull yellow/brown splodges. I took this photo of one on a plant near our table at a restaurant terrace in the coastal town of Supetar. I estimated the wasp (if that is indeed what it was) was at least 5cm / 2 inches in length.

View attachment 13287
Click to expand...

Looks like Xylocopa violacea.
 
Naughty_Felid said:
Can I just point out Wetas in New Zealand are pretty common and anyone who has a woodburner will find a few in their woodpile. I don't think any Kiwi would be fazed by them. They are a bugger to shake off if you pick one up as they have hooked feet.

Giant Wetas are really rare though and ive not seen a live one.
Click to expand...
I believe that the commentary for Lord of the Rings says that they based Shelob on a giant weta. Or I could be wrong, but they based something on a weta.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top