African Bee

[mullet]

 I didn't know if a lot of you have seen one before. This "killer bee" showed up in my backyard this morning. They are about twice the size of a normal honey bee.

[Lee Slikkers]

Excellent!  I hear their honey is "Killer" also...   

[Pat B]

Did you report him to the authorities, Eddie. Maybe they can locate the nest and distroy it.

[Michael C.]

I wondered why these haven't spread like wildfire, as much of a big deal they made of them when they started showing up. Are there a lot of them down there or are they just something you see now and then.

[mullet]

 Pat, no.
 Michael, unfortunately there are quite a few here. This is only the second one I've seen. The first was in Colombia a month ago.

[Justin Snyder]

Im confused. the experts say that the killer bees are almost identical to the European honey bees and can only be told for sure by scientific measuring or DNA testing. We have had them here for a while, although I have never seen one (that I am aware of.) My neighbor had a swarm in his yard about 3 weeks ago. The bee keeper that came and exterminated the swarm said they were killer bees, but they had to send a sample to a lab for positive ID.

This is taken from Columbia University  "The Africanized Honey Bee, more popularly known as the "killer" bee, has the general appearance of the more temperamental European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera). However, they are slightly smaller, but only microscopic measurements in a laboratory would be able to distinguish between the two."
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/cerc/danoff-burg/invasion_bio/inv_spp_summ/Apis_mellifera_scutellata.htm

[mullet]

 Justin, you have me there? I'm going by what a Columbian native told me. This bee is the same as the one I saw thare. It is larger, darker, and has a light yellow stripe on the tail. He said it was a "Killer Bee".

[Justin Snyder]

At twice the size it would scare you to death. I figured some Columbian assumed it was a Killer Bee and told you that.

[makenzie71]

The best way to tell them apart is to get stung by one.  I can tell you from experience that the difference is like holding your hand in direct sunlight vs. sticking it straight into the camp fire.

[Alpinbogen]

That's pretty scary that they're showing up.  Hope they don't cause any problems for you. 

On a related note, we've had these ginormous Cicada Killers showing up around my place.  They're not too aggressive supposedly, but their stingers look like hypodermic needles.  I just hope my kids don't get nailed by one.  I don't like 'em.

[makenzie71]

We have those things and tarantula wasps around these parts.  They're not too bad.  The only person I've seen have a problem with the sting was a guy back in high school...his head nearly popped, but he had a bad allergy to stinging insects.

[stickbender]

     I don't know what the range of the "Cicada Killers" is, but we have them down here also.  Along with a whole bunch of exotic stuff, thanks to "collectors".  We also have wood boring bees here also, they kinda look like miniature Bumble bees.  I don't know about the killer bee honey, but their wax is superior to the European Honey bee.  We have a big type of paper wasp down here, you normally only see it in the woods.  It is much bigger than the regular paper wasp, and it has a metallic bluish tint to the tips of it's wings, and it has quite the stinger on it.  I haven't been stung by one of those, and I don't want to be.  The regular ones are bad enough.  I don't know what the name for them is, but we've always just called them wood wasps.  We have lots of nifty things like that down here........"but the Tourist keep coming and moving down here."   Guess we will have to get some Fruit Bats (Flying Foxes) imported, and tell the tourist that they are mosquitoes, that the UF tinkered with after they bred the love bugs.  That should be something for them to comtemplate before thinking about moving down here.  " I don't know Harold, that thing was huge, just think of the blood it could suck out of you!  Well, it might help with my blood presha!  Harold, stop joking and get the map of Arizona out again......

                                                                      Wayne

[makenzie71]

We have a big type of paper wasp down here, you normally only see it in the woods.  It is much bigger than the regular paper wasp, and it has a metalic bluish tint to the tips of it's wings, and it has quite the stinger on it.

I hear them tracker-jackers are ornery.

[Alpinbogen]

We've got some kind of bluish wasp in PA, also.  I don't see as many as the Cicada Killers (daily on my porch), but creepy as well.  The scary thing with the Cicada Killers is that they laugh at a fly swatter.  You gotta beat the livin' crap outta them with the skinny "edge" of a fly swatter to do any good.  I think they're bred with gas masks, as fumigants do little as well.

[Grunt]

I got a big yellow jacket nest in the ground I've got to deal with. I counted 43 coming out in 30 seconds.
 I remember years ago me and my buddy George were digging in a wood pile looking for hawk handles. Sandy, George's wife was just standing around waiting for us to finish. I felt a sting and before you could spit yellow jackets were all over us. We all started running back to the car. Sandy had a jump on us and got to the car first,got in, and locked the doors. Me and George stood outside trying to get in but we couldn't so we took off in two directions. Must have gotten stung fifteen times that day. Learned to watch for yellow jackets and not to give women a head start.
I put tobacco down outside the nest last night and asked them to leave. Might have to resort to the big guns tonight.