# Another insect identification request.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-insect-identification-request/507431
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 23, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-insect-identification-request/507431 "2009-08-23T22:38:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Phatlewt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phatlewt)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-insect-identification-request/507431/1 "2009-08-23T22:38:00Z")
It’s easier to show than to describe. Can anyone tell me what this is?
I saw it in Queens, NYC this morning.
It is approximately one inch long.
[dead](http://www.wedge.net/images/DSCN0757.JPG)
[Alive (video)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGAUePFTez8)
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### Author:  [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-insect-identification-request/507431/2 "2009-08-23T22:47:32Z")
Looks very much like a hornet to me. But then, I’m not entirely sure of the subtleties and differences in the various wasp species.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-insect-identification-request/507431/3 "2009-08-23T23:28:34Z")
[Cicada Killer](http://forsyth.ces.ncsu.edu/content/images/library/34/CicadaKiller-Bowles_Pomerin.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Phatlewt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phatlewt)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-insect-identification-request/507431/4 "2009-08-24T02:35:55Z")
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2009, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-insect-identification-request/507431/5 "2009-08-25T06:52:10Z")
YAY… the mystery from 1979 resolved.
I saw one of these when I was a kid, and knowing what a nest of yellow-jackets feel like personally.
I slowly backed away from what ever this monster-jacket was…and hoping I wasn’t near its brothers.
This was as close I could come to the suspect bee, but this didn’t have the same look.
[ ](http://www.myconfinedspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/japanese-hornet.jpg)
It looked more like this, a yellow-jacket/Hornet with a black bottom.
[http://saltthesandbox.org/cicada\_hunt/more\_killers\_hand\_35.jpg](http://saltthesandbox.org/cicada_hunt/more_killers_hand_35.jpg)
Now, if I can find out what lizard looks like a standard Florida lizard but metallic deep blue-green turquoise, like it was dipped in some Testors metallic hobby paint…:dubious:
Wasn’t a chameleon type either, easy to spot the difference.
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### Author:  [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2009, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-insect-identification-request/507431/6 "2009-08-25T07:51:21Z")
> [@Jamicat](#):
>
> Now, if I can find out what lizard looks like a standard Florida lizard but metallic deep blue-green turquoise, like it was dipped in some Testors metallic hobby paint…:dubious:
> Wasn’t a chameleon type either, easy to spot the difference.
This…
[http://www.zinnysworld.com/Reptiles/anole,%20b%20-%20P050509-7132w.jpg](http://www.zinnysworld.com/Reptiles/anole,%20b%20-%20P050509-7132w.jpg)
Covered with this over the black…
[ ](https://www.stainedcouture.com/cutenews/data/upimages/HOLLYWOULDqueen_bluegreen.jpg)
Here 25 years never saw one like that. 😕
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### Author:  [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-insect-identification-request/507431/7 "2009-08-25T12:39:42Z")
> [@Jamicat](#):
>
> Now, if I can find out what lizard looks like a standard Florida lizard but metallic deep blue-green turquoise, like it was dipped in some Testors metallic hobby paint…:dubious:
> Wasn’t a chameleon type either, easy to spot the difference.
Something like [this](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Tailed_Skink.jpg)?
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-insect-identification-request/507431/8 "2009-08-25T15:50:26Z")
> [@Jamicat](#):
>
> YAY… the mystery from 1979 resolved.
>
> I saw one of these when I was a kid, and knowing what a nest of yellow-jackets feel like personally.
>
> I slowly backed away from what ever this monster-jacket was…and hoping I wasn’t near its brothers.
I read a fact sheet on the Cicada Killer and it must have repeated about 20 times that the Cicada Killer wasp is NOT known to sting humans. The males, which have no sting, sometimes do aggressive fly-bys which freak people out but they cannot hurt you. The females, which do have a sting, are retiring and cautious.
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-insect-identification-request/507431/9 "2009-08-25T16:40:44Z")
[Blue Spiny Lizard](http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?shapeID=1059&curGroupID=7&lgfromWhere=&curPageNum=36)?
[Images](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=blue+spiny+lizard&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g1)