CLOSED: Is this a huge wasp?

And does anybody know what it's called? These two were nectaring on my Corona de Christo blossoms this morning. They were so hungry that they didn't seem to care that I got close to take their photo.

Another view of one.

Please tell me that those are extremely tiny flowers! Those look like they could take out my cat! How many inches long were they?

I would never get that close. I would be running screaming into the house and turning the place upside down looking for the exterminator's number.

http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/insects/wasps/sphecid_wasp/

No picture, unfortunately.

No, those are fairly large passionflower blooms. You can get some idea of the size looking at the chain-link fence behind the one in that second pic. I would guess the insects are about 2 inches long! This seems to be my year for large scary-looking insects, some of which I've never seen before. I'll try to find pics of specid wasps.

Its called a cicada killer wasp. The only time I see them is when my passies are in bloom. I swear they act as if they get stoned off the passionflowers. They tend to stay on the flower for a long time and are sluggish after.

Well, I looked at all the photos of cicada killer wasps and none have the black body and red stripes on the abdomen like mine did. I do believe it's probably a sphecid wasp (same family), however. Just can't find a photo of one with that size and coloring!

You are right. Mine had yellow on it. B ut just a big.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=1677835

These all appear to be Scoliid wasps. I can't find an exact match for the one from Texas, but Scolia hirta comes close:
http://www.evasion.it/Scolia_hirta.htm
The one from Florida may be Scolia nobilitata
http://bugguide.net/node/view/26936/bgpage
Members of this family are common on flowers and I don't recall them being aggressive.

FM

Not aggressive at all.

How strange that I've never seen one of those before, Linda, only our local cicada wasps...hmmm...very interesting..
Melanie

We have encountered these monsters for the last couple of months. They appear to be non-aggresive even when they run into you or you swat them. Since I'm allergic to bee and yellow jacket stings, they have no problem getting my attention.
Does anyone know more about them? A name would help. Do they sting if you lean against one? Do they have venom? If they are parisitic and passive, I don't want to harm them.
I've included a pic of one that has been in alcohol for a day, and I've seen them up to an inch and a half or better. Thanks, Ric

I don't know, TXT. I've never seen them before either...I'm still looking for a name. I don't think Scolia hirta is even in the U.S., only references found seem to be for Europe. Maybe a new species? Ha! Then it could be named after me. HollyAnnS, either that one shrunk in the alcohol or it's just a baby. I didn't worry much about my big wasps. I've just never seemed to have any trouble with wasps, for some reason.

Yes, It doesn't quite look the same today as it did last night while it was still alive. There were about 9 of them on our pourch last night. One was flying at the light like a Moth would. When we opened the door 3 flew in. Very odd behavior for Wasp's. They are very large for our area and I haven't seen anything like them in this area before. Since we put in a lot of plants that Butterflies and Hummers like we seem to get a lot of different bees and such. We live out in the country with woods and fields.

Here is a man who is conducting research on cicada killers. While I agree that yours does not match any of the species pictures, it does have many similarities. Even the description of it's behavior is consistant with cicada killers. I have many of these, probably 30+ burrows under my porch alone. It's hard to tell, but your picture almost looks like it does not have a stinger, which would also be consistent with male cicada killers. The adults drink nectar and are very docile. I'm learning to ignore them as they fly by, but it is still unnerving. Maybe if you sent this gentleman an email and a picture he could help to identify. :-)

http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~hollidac/cicadakillerhome.html