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Photo#317549
Burrowing wasps - Vespula germanica

Burrowing wasps - Vespula germanica
Racine, Racine County, Wisconsin, USA
August 9, 2009
These can be frassed due to poor quality. I get nervous around wasps, so I didn't get too close to the hole. I'm just wondering what species they are. There must be a large number of them -- they come and go constantly.

Images of this individual: tag all
Burrowing wasps - Vespula germanica Burrowing wasps - Vespula germanica

Stung
I've been doing a search on stinging burrowing bugs today and what I found was this page. This entry is what I was looking for. I was out in my yard a couple of days ago trimming some bushes along the side of my house. I noticed that one of the four bushes had this almost perfect hole in it. It looked like something had basically bit all the foliage off into a near perfect circle right down into the center of the bush. I didn't think anything about and went to trimming the first bush. Then I got to the suspect bush. I trimmed some of the side off and little off the top and went to pick up the loose stuff. Then BANG! Something nailed me right on the inside of my wrist. I looked and there's this little bug with wings that's as small as a honey bee and smooth with yellow and black bands. I've never been stung much in my life and never by one of these things. I guess it was yellow jacket. It looked just like these guys in this picture posted here. So anyway it stings me, I look it's still there, I slap it away and the stinger comes out like a honeybee. I've read that Yellow Jackets aren't supposed to lose their stings so that kind of threw as to what this was. I guess it lost it's sting because of the way I smacked it. Now I noticed more of those bugs flying out of the bush. And one nailed me on the back of the head. That was enough for me. I split and got the poison and sprayed the bush down real good. The bugs kept coming out. So I waited until dark and went back out there and took a flashlight and looked in the bush. I couldn't see any kind of honeycomb. So I keep looking and see this hole in the ground by the base of the bush. I guess that's where they had a burrow. You learn something new everyday. Now I have to get a hose and drown them out. On top of all that happening I happened to look up into my magnolia tree and there's a hornets nest! A little bigger than a football. Lot's of flying, stinging bug activity in my yard these days.

Moved
Moved from Hornets and Yellowjackets. I'm going to leave this photo in the guide for now since there aren't many photos of this species at this time.

 
oops
oops

Great find, Nancy
I have been trying to find a germanica nest for my collection (their nests are very beautiful and sturdy). The vast majority of their nests are located in abandoned buildings or attics, which is why I have not been able to collect any.

You have good reason to be nervous around these guys! This particular species has large colony size and can become very agitated while around the nest.

Let me know if you plan to collect this one when they are done with it : )

 
Thanks, Vespula v.
IF YOU SAY TO KEEP CLEAR OF THEM -- I WILL DEFINITELY KEEP CLEAR OF THEM!!

I would love to get the nest for you in EARLY WINTER (!)-- that's when there would be none left, correct? But how would one go about that? They are in the side of a hill.

 
mid December
should be a good time to get it if you are going to. I would very greatly appreciate it, but I understand if you don't want to.

Actually a hill is better than flat ground for excavating nests. Start with a hand held digger and dig into the entrance and try to follow the tunnel. Keep digging back and trying to follow the tunnel, and once you spot the nest then you can use a larger shovel to dig into the nest burrow. The envelope will most likely get damaged but that is OK. The combs are what is important

Here is a nest that was collected from Wisconsin on December 2nd and was completely abandoned, but I gave you a slightly later date to make sure there is absolutely no risk involved
http://bugguide.net/node/view/38722/bgimage

Moved

wasps
I know these are Yellowjackets. They could be Vespula germanica but I'm not positive. And I would be careful around their nest.

 
These are indeed Vespula germanica
this introduced species seems to do especially well in Wisconsin State.

 
Thanks, Ilona.
I took these 10 feet from the hole! --which is why they are not very clear.

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