Anyone recognise this monster ?

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CB008

House Bee
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These chaps visited the garden daily in South West France earlier this week. Des anyone know what this is ?
 
Don't think so...Asian hornet does'nt have a second yellow band, might be a type of moth
 
The BBKA magazine earlier this year had a guide to spotting the dreaded Axxxxn HxxxxT.

Just found it - no this looks like vespa crabro (European hornet).

The BBKA say:
"Asian hornets have dark brown or black velvety body; dark abdomen and yellow tipped legs and are smaller than the Euro hornet".
 
Definitely not a European Hornet....not orange enough
 
Euro Hornet. i saw one in Devon scared the pants off me, looked it up and its our native hornet.
 
European Hornet - Yellow face and head. The Asian Hornet has an orange face.

I caught a few Queen hornets in the spring but so far this year have seen very few of either variety:)
 
Difficult when you can't see it all but could it be pine wasp
 
Vespa Crabro-
yellow or orange or brown head
abdomen striped to blotch pattern

moths pretty much always have evolved stripes to give a generic wasp/hornet effect.

My advice-
KILL IT and let God and /or evolution sort it out (it's it's own fault for looking scarey)
 
correction to last post
you might just have discovered a new species or sub species.
Catch one, pickle it and post it to the natural history museum
and you could name it.
 
Hmmmm, I think not a Hornet, this is a hornet, note the detail.

Vespa-crabro-6.jpg


more like this.

http://www.pbase.com/lennartj/image/129359461

sericomyia_silentis_m_1.jpg



Chris
 
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I reckon it is a hornet - but not sure which one

That big head looks like a Hornet of some sort.

Vespa mandarina has a head that looks very similar and also has the dark wings

Vespa_mandarinia_japonica3.jpg


But the markings on the abdomen look different and I do not think that mandarinia occurs in France

Mind you, there are other Vespa species that might fit and I am no expert on Hornets and cannot find a key to identify them.
 
It's a hover-fly or type of "fly" or solitary wasp.

not a wasp or hornet.

Chris
 
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