# What the heck was this bug? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-was-this-bug/268078 "2004-10-07T19:37:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-was-this-bug/268078/1 "2004-10-07T19:37:42Z")
So I have yellow-jackets in my back yard. I’ve already destroyed 2 nests this year. But the other day I saw them crawling into a very, very tiny little hole in a brick on my house!:mad: So at dusk I sprayed some bee/wasp killer in that hole. I sprayed a whole lot before it came dribbling out so that hole must be deep or going somewhere. When the poison finally filled up the hole, dead YJ’s came pouring out. But then…:eek:😕 This huge (over an inch long) insect, like I have never, ever seen before, came crawling out. It was still alive! It was long and slender like a centipede, but the body was more rounded at each end like a worm, or a larva. And it wasn’t yellow and black like a bee, it was a real light green, almost a “yellow green”. But not the shade of yellow a bee is. More like…the yellow-green crayon that comes in the big box of Crayola. And it had wings!! And it flew away! I tried to spray it down, but it got away. WTF was that thing? And why was it living in with a nest of yellow jackets? I’ve been on this planet almost 44 years folks, and I ain’t never seen any bug like that. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-was-this-bug/268078/2 "2004-10-07T19:45:47Z")
Priest King of Gor. Long way from home, too. ---
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-was-this-bug/268078/3 "2004-10-07T19:51:52Z")
Was it one of these? [http://www.bugpeople.org/cgi-bin/OrderHymenoptera.pl](http://www.bugpeople.org/cgi-bin/OrderHymenoptera.pl) There are several species of large wasps, an inch long, and many wasps are green. The queen is always larger than the rest. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-was-this-bug/268078/4 "2004-10-09T20:02:40Z")
> [@Rusalka](#): > > Was it one of these? [http://www.bugpeople.org/cgi-bin/OrderHymenoptera.pl](http://www.bugpeople.org/cgi-bin/OrderHymenoptera.pl) Nope. Not even close. It looked way more like a centipede than any bee I’ve ever seen. Only it had wings. It had like a 1 piece body, compared to bees that have a head & abdoman. And it looked kind of slimy, though that may have been from all the poison I sprayed in there. This was the first time in my entire life a bug has given me the creeps. It was really freaky looking. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-was-this-bug/268078/5 "2004-10-09T20:51:53Z")
Is it one of [these things](http://www.flyingrods.com/galleryfl/index.asp)? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-was-this-bug/268078/6 "2004-10-09T21:35:33Z")
was it anything like this? [http://www.milor.net/photo/p168f.jpg](http://www.milor.net/photo/p168f.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-was-this-bug/268078/7 "2004-10-09T21:50:14Z")
[This is funky!](http://www.santarosa.edu/lifesciences/control.htm) > [@](#): > > You can make very inexpensive and highly successful traps merely by using a plastic bowl, and a piece of fish tied to the stick and placed close to soapy water. Soap causes the surface tension of the water to be greatly reduced, and when wasps or flies hit the water, they crash and drown in seconds. The meat must be suspended about 1/2 to 3/4 inch above the water. Yellow Jackets have an irregular flight pattern as a mechanism of predator avoidance, and this erratic flying does them in when they attempt to approach the meat that is suspended just above soapy water. NOTE: Some time in September, Yellow Jackets quickly change from meats to sweets as a diet, so be ready to change the bait as needed. Each year, this time of switching baits is a little different, plus or minus a week or so. Soapy water traps can be moderately effective when attempting to reduce the number of Yellow Jackets that are pests at campsites or barbecues. Place four to eight of these saopy water traps around the periphery of the area. During the maximum wasp period (July through October), this arrangement can greatly reduce the number that may be pestering you. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-was-this-bug/268078/8 "2004-10-10T01:32:54Z")
The only insect that I can think of that is long, slender, and light green is the [praying mantis](http://www.orneveien.org/nikon990/praying-mantis.jpg) (another picture [here](http://orbital.encapsule.com/~cdr/coolpix700samples/praying_mantis.jpg).) They aren’t necessarily as big as the ones in the pictures I linked to, and I think that in fact they tend to be greener when they’re younger & smaller. I’m not sure what it was doing inside your house, though. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-was-this-bug/268078/9 "2004-10-10T03:28:05Z")
While looking for an answer to the OP question, I found this [site with great insect pictures](http://members8.clubphoto.com/james396110/544761/guest_icons.phtml).