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Bees

Wasps

Oriental Hornet (Vespa orientalis) Photos: Copyright © Brian Ellis, 2010

The Oriental Hornet is common throughout the island. It packs a venomous sting that is very painful. Multiple stings may be dangerous, but if the victim is allergic, a single sting may cause anaphylactic shock which requires immediate medical treatment.

It is not normally aggressive and if a hornet alights on you (rare), just let it fly away in its own time. If it senses it is being attacked, it may emit a pheromone which could warn others which could become aggressive. It is not unknown for a whole nestful of hornets to attack a man with repetitive stinging, with serious, possibly fatal, results. The best advice is to leave the Oriental Hornet alone and it will do the same.

Adults feed mainly on ripe fruit and are attracted to sugary comestibles. However, the larvae are carnivorous and the adults will find raw meat very readily to transport to the nests. A plate of raw hamburger patties, awaiting the barbecue, is like a magnet for hornets when the larvae are in development.

The life cycle is annual, with only the queen surviving the winter. Nests may be either underground or above ground.

Ichneumon Wasps

This is a family of parasitic wasps, often with a distinctive morphology. There are 25 sub-families. Generally, they lay eggs in or in close proximity to a dead or paralysed insect (often in larval stage). The hatched larvae thus have an adequate food supply. Some species of Ichneumon Wasps are similar to Wood Wasps and Mud Daubers, but there is an excellent reference to them at http://bugguide.net/node/view/150/bgpage. They are generally harmless, as their ovipositors have not developed into stings.

Ants