My bromeliads are blooming and attracting paper wasps and yellow jackets, as well as honey bees. I've been spraying the wasps. Today, I saw a much bigger type of wasp that had a habit of bending its abdomen as it nectared and I just wondered what it was.



Here's a shot with a normal bee flying over it so you can compare the size. FYI, the wasp has nearly its entire head down in the flower.

Maybe a Cicada Killer https://www.google.com/search?...

Wow. I'm not sure I wanted to know the answer to that question. But in all fairness, I did ask. Now I'm going to have nightmares about that thing. I did kill it, by the way. I know where the body is. Let me go see if I can get a picture of it dead.

Okay, here's some pictures of the corpse. Let me know if you think it's still a Cicada Killer.

http://ugatrialgardens.wordpre...

I was going to guess a type of hornet, but doing an image search I came up with this.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd...


http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid...

That first link is hilarious, but all are full of good info. I would think January would be a strange time to see one of these, but it is Florida where nothing ever makes sense. I don't often see actual Cicadas in the yard but I see their shells so I know they're around. Never seen one of these before, though! Glad to read that they don't tend to be aggressive unless you bother them. I'll have to look around and see if I can spot any nests I need to deal with. Right now, the only nest I'm worried about is a bunch of fire ants in the backyard.

Funny this should come up. I have the same wasps here Melanie & didn't know what they are. They do seem to be quite gentle with humans as I've tried to take close ups of them & they pay me no never mind. I never got a good shot as my camera doesn't take those kind of close ups so great. These wasps are hard to get close ups of that abdomen because they always seem to have it so tucked under like that.
Anyway, now I know what they are.

Yay! We're all learning something new!

You might also check the Scoliid wasps. Campsomeris Ephippium is the largest wasp I've seen that comes here, but it's not like yours.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/...
My occasional visitor, C. Ephippium:

I feel like I'm at the airport where they play that announcement at the luggage claim telling you to check your tags, "Many bags look alike..." This is why I like butterfly caterpillars. Not only do they vary a lot, you can tell what they are by what they eat. Makes things much simpler! Thanks for the link, Linda!

Hummm..... that does throw something in the mix doesn't it? I will have to check very closely next time I see one. This is as hard as ID'ing plants.

There are thousands of wasps which often look simlar, it's unwise to kill them as they do have a purpose. Some take flies for their young, some take bugs according to the species, and some parasitize bugs.

What you have appears to be Campsomeris plumipes.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/...

http://www.americaninsects.net...

These wasps are parasitoids of soil-inhabiting scarab beetle larvae

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/crea...

Notice the legs, they are not like a cicada killer's, the eyes are also different. These are very unlikely to sting you.

The form in Florida, Campsomeris plumipes fossulana

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

I really don't kill any of them except ones who make nests under the porch ceilings & we only kill them then when they get mean to us or the dog. Otherwise it's live & let live.

Yeah, I don't kill any except when the yellowjackets get troublesome! The species of Campsomeris I posted a pic of is welcome here and I love to have it visit...perfectly harmless, as far as I can tell. I just turn childlike when I spot an interesting species like that, love to watch it nectaring! I've always been a nature-lover!