Asian Giant Hornet or Japanese Wasp: Meet the Real Killer Bee
Published by It is the world’s largest hornet at approximately two inches long, this specie is native to Eastern Asia. The Suzumebachi or “sparrow bee” are a ferocious wasp which using minimal numbers can destroy an entire honey bee hive in a matter of hours and plunder its bounty.
Suzumebachi, Tiger’s Head Wasp a.k.a. Giant Sparrow Bee
They have an abnormally large head and formidable mandibles, giving them an especially fearsome appearance. Here is The Incredible Hulk of a Killer Bee. Don’t make them angry. -You won’t like them when they’re angry!
Known in Japan as the ‘giant sparrow bee,’ these giant wasps seek other large insects, mantises and other hornet species to prey upon. They also seek colonies and hives of honey bees. Upon a lone scout or two having found a thriving hive, they emit a pheromone trail and wait for reinforcements of their kind to arrive. Carnage is soon to follow. Usually, only a dozen or so conspecifics are all that is required to mount an effective assault, then they attack! It is not even a fair fight, it is more of a massacre for 20 or 30 Asian Giant Hornets can obliterate a colony of 30,000+ honeybees within hours! Each Giant Wasp is capable of killing dozens of honeybees per minute. Their prize; the honey bee larvae and pupae, which they intend to carry away to feed to their own young.
Lacking any effective defense, the honeybee colony is doomed, fighting to the very last bee. Snipping honeybees in half with their giant mandibles, chopping off heads and crushing them with impunity are all part of the Asian Wasp’s battle strategy. Ordinary honeybees lack any organized or effective defense and the hive is soon lost to the invaders. The surrounding area will be littered with the dead and the dying honeybees by the thousands. The conquering Asian Giant Wasps will drink the honey from the now emptied honeybee hive and carry the helpless larvae back to their own nest to feed to their young. These wasps cannot directly digest the protein they have secured but instead feed the chewed up and regurgitated larvae pulp to their young, which in turn produce a clear liquid that the adults consume. This behavior is not uncommon among wasp species.
Asian Hornet in America: Attacking a Honeybee Colony
Their sting is especially painful to humans. Their venom contains chemicals that necrotize flesh, stimulate nerve cells that conduct pain signals and like all true wasps, their stinger is barbless. This means that they can sting repeatedly. Some people even have allergic reactions to the stings of these bees if stung enough times. About 40 people die every year in Japan due to Asian Wasp stings.
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On May 12, 2009 at 7:18 am
excellent!..thats really amaze me..nice and well written article about killer bees..must read..well done and thanks a lot for sharing
On May 12, 2009 at 7:42 am
Wow!! Great article and the video footage really rams home the ferocity of these giant insects! Excellent!
On May 12, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Amazing article…very impressive friend:)
On May 12, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Very interesting. I would not want to see one of them killers.
On May 12, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Excellent article!
On May 12, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Holy crap! That thing is a monster. That was a fascinating article. Never heard of these before.
On May 13, 2009 at 11:06 pm
I hope to never cross paths with one of these fellows.
On June 11, 2009 at 10:05 am
Interesting article. Several people tell me that we have these hornets around our home. We have a newly constructed log home and we are being told these hornets go for the “new wood” boring into them. Since all info states these are native to Eastern Asia can this be correct? If they aren’t the Japanses Hornet, what could they be?? We live in a rural area about 60 miles from Lynchburg, Virginia. Thanks
On July 24, 2009 at 6:44 am
very interestiny and informative
On July 24, 2009 at 11:15 am
Very informative and interesting article. We have what everyone calls “Japanese Hornets” around here and they are very aggressive bees. I am scared to death of those things.
On August 6, 2009 at 5:30 pm
We ll, they are here in North America, I have witnessed one chomping on a honey bee and wondered what the heck it was- hence my search.
On August 13, 2009 at 11:55 am
Yep, they’re in North America. A lot of entomologist wanna-be insect enthusiast say that they cannot survive in North America. Try telling that to the Giant Asian Hornets buzzing around Virginia. They certainly aren’t European Hornets on steroids. I witnessed one (with a 2.5 inch body) carrying a large cicada -scared me to death. I thought it was a humming bird!!
On August 17, 2009 at 3:57 pm
That’s a cicada killer… They’re not as dangerous as the asian giant hornet, but I’ve heard they can grow over 3 inches in length.
On August 22, 2009 at 2:18 pm
These BIG bastards are here in central Illinois too. I threw straight gasoline on one last week and the damn thing just flew away W.T.F.!!!!! Any suggestions on “terminating” them?
On September 17, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Yea i was driving down the express way at 65 mph and one of those big mutha******* flew into my car, talk about driving under pressure
On September 18, 2009 at 11:48 am
HAHAHAHAHA!! -You need to write this story up, give it a few images from Flickr to show your point, and publish it!
On September 23, 2009 at 5:28 am
@ Joseph:
Not sure about pesticides, but dealing with either the cicada killer or japanese hornet (not sure which at this point, I’ll have to look closer the next time I kill one), I’ve found that ISBN 0-87259-999-X works great. Antennas apparently beat antennas in the 0500 game of rock/paper/scissors. I’ve killed a few of these things in the last couple weeks in northern VA, the first few with water bottles because it was cold and they were not at a normal energy level, but about a half hour ago it was warmer than it’s been so I had to resort to 0-87259-999-X.
On September 23, 2009 at 7:17 am
re: “…ISBN 0-87259-999-X works great. …had to resort to 0-87259-999-X.”
-When a paperback book doesn’t kill the bee, -switch to a hard-cover book? Okay!
On May 13, 2010 at 11:39 pm
yeah i just stepped on one of these things and i\’m in PA. my foot feels like i\’ts going to fall off! HELP
On May 17, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Cannot believe how much a sting from one of these Japanese Hornets HURTS!! How did they get here from Japan? How are they getting in my house here in VA? Do they have a hive in my yard or something? EGADS!
On September 3, 2010 at 11:11 pm
We are being assaulted by these in Georgia. Is this possible?
On September 6, 2010 at 9:25 pm
About four of these beasts have gotten into the house. They are frickin EVIL! I live in North Georgia. I wish they would fly back to Asia! D: Any ideas on how to kill them without chemicals? I’ve squashed all of them with a dictionary…
On September 7, 2010 at 12:34 am
I’m in the mountains of western NC and have tried killing 2 inside my house today! The first one was about this afternoon its now 1230 and it is still moving even with half its body gone. The second was about an hr ago its still wiggling around on my bathroom floor. I’m scared to touch it!
On September 11, 2010 at 8:52 pm
What REALLY freaks me out is the way these things can decimate a whole honey bee hive. Why haven’t all these experts who’ve been scratchig their heads over the mystery of what’s killing our
honey bees ever mention this thing? I have a whole nest of them
entering a hole in the masonry underneath the gutter, going into
the attic, I presume. Just discovered their nest….got to find a way
to get them without forcing them to start looking for ways to get into the house….YIKES! They are HUGE!
On September 12, 2010 at 4:45 am
while visiting my family in basset,virginia we found a awesome fishing site, but boy was i wrong!! I went back to my car for something thought a bird was in my car started swinging to get it out then i realized it was a bee!! i have never seen a bee that big or mean! It stung me three times and still flew away. I was in soo much pain wow i felt sick to my stomach.went to the E.R and they could not treat me w.o insurance!! my dad soaked my arm up in bootleg & had taken some benadryl. the pain and my nervs had the best of me. this happened a week ago and my arm is still puffy & sore. be aware of these killer bees!!!
On October 24, 2010 at 10:42 pm
Basset, Va?!? Get out! *I* used to live in Basset, Virginia when I was maybe 2 or 3 years old!
On December 21, 2010 at 7:37 pm
This article has been indexed inThe Triond Experiment Thanks and goodluck!
On January 27, 2011 at 5:57 pm
I saw them 20 years ago at ft. Eustice army base. Then I saw one In Maryland. They tick but to me it was like 4 inches long. An thick like a huge potato bug or flying Japanese cricket.
On March 15, 2011 at 1:40 pm
Beware! I thought they were harmess, but a nuisance. Until I leaned back on my couch, and one stung me, THREE TIMES, on the back and neck, in the process of ripping my shirt off. It was agonizing. They are very prolific here in Nelson County, Virginia. I am much more careful now in my encounters.
On April 23, 2011 at 7:19 pm
I was stung on the top of my hand pulling on a curtain…it felt like an I.V. going into my hand. The pain shot up my arm then my chest started to hurt and i got dizzy and nauseated. It was horrible.
On April 25, 2011 at 7:11 pm
One got in my house here in Pickens, SC. We smacked it three times with a fly swatter after throwing a rag soaked in wasp killer on top of it. Eventually we put a heavy work glove on and squished it by hand. It was still moving. We flushed it so hopefully they don’t swim.
On May 4, 2011 at 10:14 pm
i have been chased by these for no reason at all. my dogs have been stung by them,they are mean beyond compare,my poor german shepherds when they get stung i’ve seen their heads swell up like a balloon,and it lasts for a few days,. i have found if you ice the sting area on the skin it helps quite a bit with the swelling,and the dog seems to feel better. my husband got stung by one on his hand and it numbed his whole arm for days.. i just caught one following me around my chicken house,i trapped it in an oatmeal box up against the window,then put it in the fridgerator,..to make sure it couldn’t get away.(this was an hour ago).
On August 17, 2011 at 10:52 am
We have huge hornets like that in Central Oregon.
On August 21, 2011 at 10:22 pm
Just killed 2 in my house and 4 outside. (Quite the sight they did NOT want to die) Im in Central NJ. They are friggin HUGE!
On September 3, 2011 at 9:48 pm
In Middleburg, VA – I have killed four in my house in the past two days. There is one flying around right now but I’m too tired to deal with it. I will kill every one of these F-ers that I see now that I know they kill honeybees.
DIE evil bees!
On September 7, 2011 at 9:28 am
I just left the ER because something stung or bit me while driving. I wasnt sure what it was ,it was so painful I went to ER. I found it in the truck, that is some serious pain if I went to the DR. for it.The sting was on the base of the head.VERY PAINFUL, Those things are everywhere! J.T. Funkhouser in Star Tannery , VA.
On October 11, 2011 at 1:47 am
I live near Lake Bowen and have an Inman, SC address. These hornets attacked my spot lights just after dark a couple of weeks ago. I had never seen one before and hope I never do again. The first attack occurred while I was storing pool equipment for the winter and I was stung on a hand. The next night they attacked the spot light on a deck on the back of the house. I knew what they were this time and sprayed wasp and hornet killer directly on them. It just spurred them on. When did these. When did these armored giant yellow jackets arrive in North America? Our sudden abnormally low temperatures appears to have ended their activity.
On October 11, 2011 at 1:52 am
I live near Lake Bowen and have an Inman, SC address. These hornets attacked my spot lights just after dark a couple of weeks ago. I had never seen one before and hope I never do again. The first attack occurred while I was storing pool equipment for the winter and I was stung on a hand. The next night they attacked the spot light on a deck on the back of the house. I knew what they were this time and sprayed wasp and hornet killer directly on them. It just spurred them on. When did these. When did these armored giant yellow jackets arrive in North America? Our sudden abnormally low temperatures appears to have ended their activity.