ANSWERS TO GO with Susan Smith
Q. I was sitting outside when I got buzzed by a bee-like insect that I hadn’t seen before. It was bigger than most bees and smaller than a wasp. It had bright gold and black stripes. Could it have been a hornet? I don’t know what they look like.
A. We pulled out my A.favorite title on insects: “Texas Bug Book: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” We searched the index to find the illustrated entry on hornets. The photograph matched the insect this patron remembered.
Authors C. Malcolm Beck and John Howard Garrett included the information on this insect under Texas Yellowjacket, but another common name is hornet. The bald-faced hornet is a related insect. Adults are three-fourths inches long. For purposes of comparison, honeybees are threeeighths to five-eighths inches long.
Beck and Garrett continue: “Large wasp-like flying insects, hornets have shorter waists than wasps. Texas yellowjackets build nests in hollow trees and in the ground. Bald-faced hornets have darker coloring, and their large rounded paper nests are suspended fully exposed from tree branches.
“The last females to hatch each season mate and overwinter under bark or in the ground. They emerge in the spring to build paper cells in mouse burrows or holes in logs or trees.
“Adults eat nectar, fruit juices from holes pecked in fruit by birds. Some eat insects. The larvae are fed insect meat that has been chewed by adults. Most of this food consists of caterpillars, flies and other troublesome insects. There is some indication that hornets help to control flies.They are also attracted to soda pop and beer left in containers.
“These are beneficial insects. Try to protect these insects if they aren’t located in a dangerous place. Spiders, diseases and parasites provide natural control. Man is their biggest enemy.
“Control organically with soapy water or citrus products if really necessary. Treat the underground nests at night. Put red cellophane over your flashlight because wasps and bees can’t see red very well.”
Beck and Garrett continue with a tip from USDA biologist Justin Schmidt: “Use a soap or citrus oil drench and then cover the opening with a rock — and run like hell in case any of them escape.”
