Subject: Wasp or hornet or ?
Location: Chiang Mai (northern Thailand).
May 4, 2014 12:26 am
Hi, this big flying insect comes into my house the last 2 days. It is not aggressive and about 5 cm long.
I made the pictures through a glass bowl.
Signature: Ricci
Dear Ricci,
This is a magnificent wasp, and we were immediately struck by its resemblance to the European Mammoth Wasp, which is represented in our archives and identified as either Megascolia maculata or Scolia flavifrons. We may need to go back through our archives and make some corrections. So, with that as a point of departure, we believe we have identified your individual as Megascolia azurea on the HK Wildlife Forum and we found an example identified as a Digger Wasp from Hong Kong in our own archives. This image from TheBugRoom indicates that only the female of the species has the red head, an example of sexual dimorphism.
Thank you very much for your effort.
You are most welcome.
The sting from the Thailand Mammoth Wasp is excruciatingly painful. I was stung on the left side of my upper chest yesterday.
I would say that they can be very aggressive. I have just returned from walking my dog and one of these wasps stung me on the earlobe and just inside my ear. It hit the side of my head so hard it nearly knocked me off balance, but that was also because of the instant burning pain. As it hit me my hand came up to swat it away and it stung me again.
I went strait back home and put apple cider vinegar on the stings and added a cold-pack which seems to be easing the pain.
All I can say is I’d rather not see another one. This Bugger got me just outside Pattaya, considerably south of Chang Mai.
Hello, correct, I got several, in Lao Khwan, in the village Ban nong kai luang