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. They are a ferocious wasp which using minimal numbers can destroy an entire honey bee hive in a matter of hours and plunder its bounty.
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 also 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 Giant Wasps Attack 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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20 Responses to “Asian Giant Hornet or Japanese Wasp: Meet the Real Killer Bee”
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!
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