ID this Flying Insect

Factual Questions
1

OK I have a caller with a bug ID question… Grammy has killed this bug in Montgomery Alabama and wants to know what it is.

Flying Insect with large stinger
Body - Smooth, over 1 in long, black with yellowish stripes, BIG stinger
Wings - reddish
Legs - red
Head - reddish

Suggestions??

2

Sabre Wasp?

3

Oh yeah, and it’s “about as big around as your pinkie finger”.

4

Sounds like some kind of hornet or solitary wasp. The ‘stinger’ might just be an ovipositor though.

5

Nope - she said it looked almost like a hornet - but bigger.

6

Possibly a Cicada Killer - They’re big and often have a brownish-red cast to them.

Here’s a photo: http://ppdl.org/dd/images/cicadakiller_wasp-grass.jpeg

  • Tamerlane
7

OOooo Think I found it - European Hornet

I just wonder with the name “European”, should it be in Alabama?

8

Better shot of a European Hornet ( that does look closer ):

http://www.muenster.org/hornissenschutz/grbilder/horniseite.htm

  • Tamerlane
9

Oh and it was introduced into the U.S. in 1840 and has since naturalized.

  • Tamerlane
10

Sorry, I should have specified European Hornet - I keep forgetting that many non-European species are smaller than ordinary wasps (yellowjackets) and then nobody knows what I’m talking about.