I might have to agree with GB, mantises are cool, they don’t bother anyone, they’re not gross, they kill other pest insects and they are just cool to watch. I don’t see them very often where I live, maybe a few a year. Defaulted everyone’s favorite bugs should be butterflies and bees, without them no food 
[QUOTE=GeneChing;1251312]To be stung to death by hornets is way up there on the list of crappy ways to check out.[/QUOTE]
I’m so glad I didn’t know how dangerous these things really were until I got back here. I was scared enough of them as it was.
China’s giant hornets getting serious
Army sent flame thrower to destroy huge wasp nest
One of the items on my bucket list is to shoot a flame thrower some day.
deadliest insect
[QUOTE=EarthDragon;633144]Well I might be biased here but hands down the coolest most vicious insect is definatly the praying mantis… whiel the dragon fly is also an extremly cool insect. Nothing can come close to the mantis which looms over its opponents then with razor sharp forearms and lighting speed snatches it prey then chews a whole in the throat… nice[/QUOTE]
The mantis is definitely an impressive predator and I caught one, then let it go, which was probably ten inches long; the biggest one I have ever seen. But the most vicious insect I have ever seen in action was the dragon fly in Northwest Arkansas, which ranges from 6-10 inches long. I have seen them catch incredibly large flying insects in mid-flight and smash them into the water or onto the ground then proceed to eat them alive. They also snatch small frogs and tadpoles in a similar manner. Their wings are so large they make a sinister sound and you can definitely hear them coming.
[QUOTE=Raipizo;1251385]Defaulted everyone’s favorite bugs should be butterflies and bees, without them no food :p[/QUOTE]
I took this photo on our morning walk today. Enjoy!
[QUOTE=GoldenBrain;1252814]I took this photo on our morning walk today. Enjoy!
[/QUOTE]
That’s a great photo, GB!
I don’t know why I forgot to mention butterflies. I always get a really positive feeling when I see one (or more). I remember an annual northern migration of them…don’t remember if it happened every year, but it was cool when it happened. Haven’t seen that happen in a long time, though. Only negative is that I’d be saddened seeing the ones that inevitably fall by the wayside.
More on giant hornets
I just posted this because of the photo.
How to ward off a giant hornet attack
By Heather Timmons October 17, 2013
This is not recommended. Reuters/stringer
Thumb-sized giant hornets, which have a sting that’s been likened to a hot nail going through your skin, continue to plague the Chinese province of Shaanxi. More than 40 people have been killed by hornet attacks, and there are nearly 1,700 reported injuries.
As Quartz has reported, the hornets are proliferating thanks to global warming and are spreading to Europe, where they’re eating smaller and friendlier local bees. Since they’re seemingly here to stay, doctors and insect specialists in China offered up these tips to prevent an attack, courtesy of China Daily:
Stay away from their nests. Giant Asian hornets, Vespa Mocsaryana and Vespa Mandarinia, do not generally sting without provocation, but anyone touching their nests is vulnerable to a group attack. Keep at least 6 feet (1.8 meters) away.
Don’t run. If you do accidentally disturb a hornet or its nest, keep in mind they can fly faster than you can run. Instead, crouch low to the ground, stop moving and try to cover your head. Hornets are intrigued by moving targets and consider running a provocation, explained Li Xin, a professor of insect research at Northwest Agricultural and Forestry University.
Wear brown or black. Giant hornets are excited by bright colors.
Skip the aftershave. They are drawn to perfume and cologne.
Don’t be drunk: They’re also agitated by the smell of alcohol.
While recent media coverage has focused on the destruction wrought by the hornets, they’re a useful part of the ecosystem, Chinese scientists note, eating flies and other pests. Their venom can also be used to treat arthritis. That said, you really don’t want to make them mad. Stay safe out there.
[QUOTE=GeneChing;1252862]I just posted this because of the photo.[/QUOTE]
Dang. Imagine if that was a honeybee nest. All that honey
We will not give up the fight. Time to import some African Killer Bees and rage an assault. They will take over their nests and feast on their eggs. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. We will suit up in killerBEE suits and attack! No girly men! 
https://www.google.com/search?q=african+killer+bee&client=firefox-a&hs=8gg&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=upxgUq3mGuL84AOs1ICYDw&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1440&bih=807
[QUOTE=Jimbo;1252819]That’s a great photo, GB![/QUOTE]
Thanks! Not bad for leaning out over a creek bank with my iPhone. We see these little guys all around the property but they really like the minerals at the creek so that’s where they tend to gather.
That’s a scary big nest Gene. Especially considering the type of hornet that lived in it.
I had to burn out a yellow jacket nest one time. It was too close to the house and several stung the crap out of me so it had to go. Poison wouldn’t kill it so next was diesel fuel and a match. After the bonfire burned out the ground collapsed and we found it was about as big as the nest that fella is holding up except it was under ground. The ground on top was so thin a person could have stepped right through and received a nasty surprise.
[QUOTE=GoldenBrain;1252901]After the bonfire burned out the ground collapsed and we found it was about as big as the nest that fella is holding up except it was under ground. The ground on top was so thin a person could have stepped right through and received a nasty surprise.[/QUOTE]
That would suck so bad. Just having a nice walk, then bam! Ya step into a whole bunch of nasty. I’ve had issues with wasps, but never hornets.
I really dislike yellow jackets. I woke up one day to being stung by one. Such a ****ty way to wake up. It’s funny now, but at the time… not so much.
The mantis is also my favorite insect. It’s not just for their grace and power either; they come in all sorts of cool variations.
The traditional green blade of grass
The beautiful pink flower
The terrifying devil
The dead leaf
Asilidae; Robber Fly aka The Assassin Fly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asilidae
Japanese Hornet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fTrSOFyfxs
The Japanese Hornet will murder the shit out of European Honey Bee colonies, however the native Japanese Honeybees have evolved a really intricate defense against giant hornet attacks.
Once a Japanese giant hornet has located a hive of European honey bees it leaves pheromone markers around it that quickly attract nest-mates to converge on the hive. A single hornet can kill forty European honey bees in a minute; a group of 30 hornets can destroy an entire hive containing 30,000 bees in a little more than three hours. The hornets kill and dismember the bees, returning to their nest with the bee thoraxes, which they feed to their larvae, leaving heads and limbs behind; the bee larvae are also taken to feed the hornet larvae. The hornets also eat the bees’ honey.
The Japanese honey bee, however, has a defense against these attacks. When a hornet approaches the hive to release pheromones, the bee workers will retreat back to the hive, leaving an opening to allow the hornet scout to enter. At a given point, the bees emerge from their hiding places in an angry cloud formation containing some 500 individuals. They form a tight ball around the hornet that acts like a convection oven when the bees vibrate their wings to direct air over their bodies, warmed by their muscular exertion, into the inside of the ball. The interior temperature of the ball rises to 47 °C (117 °F). The hornet can survive maximum temperatures of 44–46 °C (111–115 °F), but the bees can survive up to 48–50 °C (118–122 °F), so the hornet is killed and the bees survive.[1]
[QUOTE=Syn7;1252930]That would suck so bad. Just having a nice walk, then bam! Ya step into a whole bunch of nasty. I’ve had issues with wasps, but never hornets.
I really dislike yellow jackets. I woke up one day to being stung by one. Such a ****ty way to wake up. It’s funny now, but at the time… not so much.[/QUOTE]
That’s a terrible way to start the day.
We also have the dreaded fire ant here. Sometimes they have nests big enough to step through and when you do you get about 100,000 of them *******s on you before you can get your leg up out of the hole. It’s not happened to me but I’ve heard stories. The bad thing about a fire ant is they bite, hold on and sting at the same time. And, they don’t sting one at a time. They climb all over you and then send out a signal and they all sting at once.
Wenshu and ghostexorcist, those are some awesome pics! The stinger on those wasps look like a hypodermic needle. And, the mantises, well they’re just amazing!
If it makes you feel better, fire ants are being extirpated in some locals, not sure you’ll like the alternative though.
http://www.utexas.edu/news/2013/05/16/invasive-crazy-ants-are-displacing-fire-ants-researchers-find/
As for mantises…
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/10/10/3862684.htm
Those ants like to nest in electronics too. They make such a mess of things from what I hear.
I haven’t heard of the crazy ant yet. I just read up on them and it appears that Amdro kills those too so I’ll just keep a healthy supply around. Amdro works wonders on fire ants, well all ants for that matter, but you aren’t supposed to get it close to gardens…
My solution is to go aquaponics so soil isn’t in the equation, and I get a bunch of fish to eat as a bonus. Yay! Off subject…I’m building a 60X16 ft walipini (in ground greenhouse) this winter which will take the place of our entire outdoor garden area and be more than enough space to feed our entire family and friends year round. It will be entirely aquaponic. I’ll still have a 24X10 above ground greenhouse but that’ll be for a few tropical fruit and citrus trees and they’ll be in containers so fire or crazy ants and Amdro shouldn’t be a concern.
I’ve seen that orchid mantis before. It’s deadly beautiful. I wish we had a few of those around here but there are no orchids so I don’t think they’d do very well.
24x10 is a great space for ganja!
Hahahaha! That’s not going to happen. I live in Texas you know, and I hear they still hang people for that kind of thing.
Maybe one day they’ll realize that legalizing this stuff will allow people to grow the medicine they need with the added benefit of drying up the cartels that are killing something like 50,000 people a year on the boarder. Besides, I really don’t think we need all these parentalistic laws that punish people for doing stuff to themselves. As long as it’s not a violent crime, theft or harms others or their property then I say leave it alone.
Who here has eaten any of these?
…other than me? :o
LOOK: Bite bugs back at this Qingdao snack street offering all kinds of roasted creepy-crawlers
BY ALEX LINDER IN NEWS ON FEB 9, 2017 11:00 PM
Feeling peckish for a midnight snack? Well, hop on the next train to Qingdao and fill your stomach up with as many creepy crawlies as you can keep down.
Photos of the impressively vast variety of insects on serve at one snack street in the city have been some netizens feeling hungry, others less so. But, whether you prefer the refreshing crunchiness of fried scorpions or the delicate flavor of sautéd centipedes, there’s really something here for everyone.
continued next post