Hey Bigragoo, we sound kinda similar. Biology, zoology in particular, has always been fascinating for me. However, I didn’t get into insects until I took an entomology course in college. I started a collection and have been hooked ever since.
The cicada killers aren’t bad; they’re just ridiculously strong. I swear I caught the same wasp three times, and he just tore his way out of my net. Needless to say, I moved out of range pretty quick.
I can’t stand those velvet ants. I picked one up as a kid, not knowing what it was. I guess the bright colors looked cool. Bastard stung me several times.
As for paralytic wasps, I actually got to see one in action a month or two back. Saw something rather large crawling across a rock. At first glance I thought it was a huge wolf spider. I was partially correct. It was a huge spider, but it was being carried by a black wasp a third its size.
[quote]Fishdog70 wrote:
Hey Bigragoo, we sound kinda similar. Biology, zoology in particular, has always been fascinating for me. However, I didn’t get into insects until I took an entomology course in college. I started a collection and have been hooked ever since.
The cicada killers aren’t bad; they’re just ridiculously strong. I swear I caught the same wasp three times, and he just tore his way out of my net. Needless to say, I moved out of range pretty quick.
I can’t stand those velvet ants. I picked one up as a kid, not knowing what it was. I guess the bright colors looked cool. Bastard stung me several times.
As for paralytic wasps, I actually got to see one in action a month or two back. Saw something rather large crawling across a rock. At first glance I thought it was a huge wolf spider. I was partially correct. It was a huge spider, but it was being carried by a black wasp a third its size.
[/quote]
I like the paralytic wasps. I took photos of a maroon one with black stripes dragging a large arboreal spider to it’s den in a weep hole of my house. It think I posted them on here, somewhere.
Since mentioning attitudes of the different wasps, I’d like you to meet the wasp I feel has the worst temper. Now, we know the bald faced hornet is a cranky insect (which is where the expression “madder than a hornet” comes from), and here is the equivilant in wasps.
These are smaller than other paper wasps found in the southern states, but it has a napoleon complex and will attack more readily than it’s larger cousins. I give you Polistes exclamans or the guinea wasps, as it’s known around here.
a popular drink in japan has a hornet in it. The hornet saliva has been shown to increase human endurance, I believe they make a drink with the saliva in it, and the japanese marathon runners use it. The hornets are deadly and people die every year. I hope i never get stung. by anything. ever again.
That first picture is actually of me. I was a normal bee that started using Biotest products and suddenly I became huge and sentient. Now I spend my time lifting things 30X my bodyweight and eating wussies in the gym.
[quote]BigRagoo wrote:
Since mentioning attitudes of the different wasps, I’d like you to meet the wasp I feel has the worst temper. Now, we know the bald faced hornet is a cranky insect (which is where the expression “madder than a hornet” comes from), and here is the equivilant in wasps.
These are smaller than other paper wasps found in the southern states, but it has a napoleon complex and will attack more readily than it’s larger cousins. I give you Polistes exclamans or the guinea wasps, as it’s known around here.[/quote]
Is that guy also know as the “sweat bee?” I’ve been stung by Honey Bees, Paper Wasps, Yellow Jackets, a sweat bee and a Hornet. Sweat bee hurt more than the Wasp and the Honey bee, but the pain went away pretty fast compaired to the other two which I could feel the rest of the day. The Hornet hurt like a motherfucker for days, and the finger that got stung was stiff and swollen for two weeks.
I swear we have Hornets in VA bigger than that little 4cm bitch. I’ll see if I can catch one.
Is that guy also know as the “sweat bee?” I’ve been stung by Honey Bees, Paper Wasps, Yellow Jackets, a sweat bee and a Hornet. Sweat bee hurt more than the Wasp and the Honey bee, but the pain went away pretty fast compaired to the other two which I could feel the rest of the day. The Hornet hurt like a motherfucker for days, and the finger that got stung was stiff and swollen for two weeks.
I swear we have Hornets in VA bigger than that little 4cm bitch. I’ll see if I can catch one.[/quote]
No, this is a sweat bee, and it is a bee, not a wasp. Sweat bees are said to be attracted to the salt in perspiration, which butterflies are also. That characteristic obviously makes human contact more frequent and consequently painful.
Is there a reason why women are more likely to get stung by bees than men? Once I was on a film shoot in a small hunting cabin that was infested by wasps. All eight of the women on set got stung at least once, some several times a day, but none of the guys got stung.
On the third or fourth day me and another guy finally massacred the poor little buggers, which sucked cause I’m rather fond of them. It always seemed to me as a kid who spent a lot of time outside that girls got stung a hell of a lot more than guys. Or maybe they just cried about it more.
[quote]Uncle Gabby wrote:
Is there a reason why women are more likely to get stung by bees than men? Once I was on a film shoot in a small hunting cabin that was infested by wasps. All eight of the women on set got stung at least once, some several times a day, but none of the guys got stung.
On the third or fourth day me and another guy finally massacred the poor little buggers, which sucked cause I’m rather fond of them. It always seemed to me as a kid who spent a lot of time outside that girls got stung a hell of a lot more than guys. Or maybe they just cried about it more.[/quote]
Hmmm…the first thing that comes to mind is women wear perfume and scented lotions moreso than men. That could lure wasps and bees to them, and when they get near, women seem to always have a shit fit and go into a swatting spasm, which aggravates the insect, thus they sting. Just guessing though.
