Subject: Wasp/grasshopper?
Location: Mid-Michigan
May 20, 2014 6:17 pm
My brother recently spotted this and no one can identify it, are the grasshoppers trying to scare us now?
Signature: Derek
Dear Derek,
This is neither a wasp nor a grasshopper, but it is a beetle known as a Hickory Borer, Megacyllene caryae, that mimics wasps like the Yellowjacket for protection as the beetle is harmless and the Yellowjacket can sting. The Hickory Borer, which emerges in the spring, looks very similar to its relative the Locust Borer, Megacyllene robiniae, which emerges in the fall.