So I came home from school yesterday, and I was sitting at our kitchen table, eating lunch and talking to my Mom on the phone, when I hear this loud buzzing sound. I turn around to see this massive bee/ dragonfly looking bug, approximately 2 1/2- 3 inches long, on our furnace, in our house!
I immediately forgot everything I was trying to say to my Mom, jumped up and ran to the opposite corner of the room. The massive insect was trying to fly around so I just decided to go outside and try to remember what I was going to tell my mom... which turned out to be a bad choice cause now I had no idea where it was in my house, or if it was going to fly out the door and get me when I opened it. So I pushed the door open, and waited. Nothing. Walked slowly inside, looking around, and found it parked on our kitchen floor. I quickly emptied our mixing bowl cupboard till I found the biggest one I could find (thanks Megan) and kinda tossed it over on top of it. I had to go to work and I figured our house would be safe until Jeff could come home after work and kill it. (I did this as a child with spiders too... catch them under cups in my room and wait for my dad to find them...) Anyway, when Jeff got home he took the bowl off, and then took a picture! He's so brave and strong... ;) I'm very glad he took them though, so I can figure out what kind of bug it was. :) We looked at a couple websites, and put our picture up on a bug identification website, and got some feedback...
We've come to the conclusion that it's a Pigeon Horntail Wasp, and it's a female, cause that long thing that looks like a massive stinger is actually called an "ovipositor," it is how a female lays eggs, which they do in old decaying wood. GREAT! My house was built in the late 1800's! There has to be decaying wood everywhere... fantastic!
We've come to the conclusion that it's a Pigeon Horntail Wasp, and it's a female, cause that long thing that looks like a massive stinger is actually called an "ovipositor," it is how a female lays eggs, which they do in old decaying wood. GREAT! My house was built in the late 1800's! There has to be decaying wood everywhere... fantastic!
(You can check out these websites and see if you agree.)
- http://bugguide.net/node/view/230458#326959
- http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?shapeID=1008&curGroupID=4&lgfromWhere=&viewType=&curPageNum=2
- http://www.padil.gov.au/viewPest.aspx?id=522
3 comments:
So was it dead when Jeff came home and found it?? Gross. I do love the story, though. If I ever find a bug in my house again, I'm going to trap it under a cup! Does Jeff make house calls to kill them?
EWWWWWW! I hate bugs! I would have freaked out too. So I'm guessing you're a twilight fan?! We should go see it together! "AHHHHH COME ON!!!" ;) Love ya Billy!
by the way... i LOVE your title picture... sooo cute!
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