queen hornet!!

[outdoorguy]

was sitting in my car birdwatching this evening.. windows open obviously .. and heard a loud buzzing and into my car comes the largest hornet i've ever seen.. i saw a lot last year but this one was huge.. maybe because it was about two feet from my face but was def about 50-60mm.. thought it would sting me and carry me off.. he he.. james

[deer boy]

Glad to see you made it back to WAB safely

[NickCantle]

The hornets we usually get in the summer are about that size Glad you're back safely to tell the tale

Nick

[Pudding4brains]

Hi James,

Yes, they certainly are impressive beasts So impressive actually, that most people tend to overestimate their size by 150%-200%

I've seen various discussions on the issue and unless you live in Asia you'll be hard pressed to come up with a 5cm Hornet. Experts seem to agree that even queens (hardly?) ever exceed 35mm. In all the discussions no one has ever been able to come up with an image of a Hornet an some means of measurement that proves anything else.

But don't feel bad about it - they really are impressive anyway, and I myself have thought on various occasions that I saw one that "must be over 4cm" - but after verifying with a measure and the Background I had seen the beast on I could never honestly get over 32-33mm or so (for queens!).

Cheers though, for not getting a heart attack
Arp

P.S. It wouldn't sting you before carrying you off ... just bite your head of first

[outdoorguy]

i'm a trained engineer and it was at least 45 mm.. i am very good at sizing.. i wouldn't have posted unless it really impressed me.. it was about two feet from me so i'm sure about wot i saw... james

[galanthus]

gulp !! teeny british wasps are enough to scare me in enclosed spaces let alone one of those

[Pudding4brains]

Hi James,

Originally Posted by outdoorguy

i'm a trained engineer and it was at least 45 mm.. i am very good at sizing..

I'm afraid you'll have to live with the fact that no serious expert who has collected and actually measured (not estimated) hundreds and hundreds of hornets will buy your 45mm unless you hand 'em rock solid "proof".

Of course, you might be right (do you live near a nuclear plant? ), but experts are just soooo annoyingly stubborn about "measuring" and "proof" etcetera ... it's like those horrible customers of engineering products, I'm sure you're familiar with, who insist on their products actually being produced to spec as opposed to "looked about right over my thumb" - tsssss, who do they think they are anyway

Btw, I'm just reproducing/summarizing stuff from many other discussions - don't shoot the messenger

Cheers! Arp

[derelict]

Two thoughts - both size-related -

is 6 cm wingspan or body length?
If it's body length I'd be a bit sceptical too and ask about horntails i.e. Sirex/Uroceras rather than hornets because they can certainly be that long, although it's a bit early for them unless temperature is what gets them out of their trees I could just about go with the 4.5cm max body length for queen hornets though that is a max. - there's always the the extendable abdomen to take into account.

The other thought was that it could be something unpleasantly exotic...

[outdoorguy]

not a horntail.. was def a queen hornet and def the size i said... i've been watching wildlife for over 25 years.. so i don't know wot u have to do to be an expert but i'd say i have as much field experience as anyone.. my speciality is birds but i know wot i saw.. couldn't care less if any 'expert' wouldn't agree.. there opionion means nothing to me..all that matters is i know wot i saw.. i don't need i piece of paper with a measurement on it to make it official.. not moaning at u guys coz u all know ur stuff but i know wot i saw and i'm happy with the image in my mind.. james

[lab]

I had a queen hornet in my studio today and she was huge, definately 2 inches long, I happened to have a dead hornet from last year on a shelf that i kept because i might have wanted to paint i and it was at the very least twice the size. Very impressive, even the wings were a good inch long and i was holding the normal hornet in my hand to compare with I was only a foot away from the queen hornet and was watching her for about 20 minutes before i opened a window for her as my dog was looking far too interested.
Lorraine