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As I said, sufficient for whatever ministry investigates such things (the equivalent of WA Dept of Agriculture, where my information comes directly from). Their conclusions will be sufficient for me too.
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I'll see what I can do to find the initial reports about the first 2 captures in the spring and then again in the autumn of 2017, but if I can't find them I'm not going to knock myself out over it to try to prove anything to anyone. Makes no difference to me. I know how long ago it was they were first discovered here, that's sufficient enough for me.
What may seem merely anecdotal to you is known to be true by our B.C. bee keepers associations and those others of us who actually live here and have been keeping up with our local reports about these hornets. This is a big honey industry province and there are a lot of bee keepers here all over the whole province who are concerned, pro-active and have been staying vigilant since 2017.
The websites and newsletters from the bee keepers associations in both Canada and USA might be another source of news for you if it's really important to you to find out more. They're all co-operative and supportive and they report serious up-to-date facts to each other, not anecdotal sensationalism (and you certainly won't find them giving the giant hornets stupid, immature names like "Murder Hornets" ).
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I have very good sources of information. I'm not saying AGH wasn't there before 2019, I'm saying there are no confirmed reports. I'm sure that most beekeepers can identify honeybees, but that doesn't make them insect taxonomists. Their reliability in identifying other insects might not be any better than the average Joe. So anecdotal reports may be intriguing, but they are still just that. The professionals in your relevant ministry know this.
That's what I was thinking, too. Lol they eat more than just cicadas ... hope their favorites are horse flies and yellow flies! They didn't bother me, in fact buzzed away from me, and I never saw one land on the horse nor sting him.
Looks to me to be some sort of hornet or wasp. Not familiar with the exact type, most hornets and wasps can hover if they want to, like when entering the hive. Thanks for posting the pictures, this is an interesting thread.
The cicada killers have a segmented body, a very distinct traditional wasp waist. It looks like this one has a singular abdomen but perhaps it is segmented higher up on the body. I can't tell.
The proportional size of the body to wings and the markings look very much like a western yellow jacket.
The cicada killers have a segmented body, a very distinct traditional wasp waist. It looks like this one has a singular abdomen but perhaps it is segmented higher up on the body. I can't tell.
The proportional size of the body to wings and the markings look very much like a western yellow jacket.
I don't think it's any kind of yellow jacket though because the tail end (the business end) of yellow jackets is yellow, not a broad band of black at the tip like the ones pictured. Also considering the size of the insects pictured, when compared with the horse they look to be at least twice the size of yellow jackets and OP did say that they are quite large. I'd not want to see yellow jackets that big.
Another distinct possibility, going by the body shapes and length, the number of bands and the black tail end, they might be some kind of large scoliid wasps.
I'm more inclined to say scoliid, but unsure. I am trying to attach a closer photo to show segmentation. The head, neck, and thorax very much resemble scoliid and not so much yellow jackets.
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