# What was this huge bug?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-huge-bug/197983
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 27, 2003, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-huge-bug/197983 "2003-08-27T14:40:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2003, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-huge-bug/197983/1 "2003-08-27T14:40:30Z")
Yesterday and the day before that, I saw some massive bugs outside my dorm. These bugs were about 2 inches long–maybe a little longer–about as big around as one of my fingers (and I do NOT have itty bitty digits), were either yellow and black or white and black striped, and flew. Yeah, they FLEW.
To me, the reminded me of overgrown wasps without the dramatic waist. I’m fairly certain they’re not cicadas, since they aren’t in the trees and don’t seem to have nearly the right body shape (they’re sorta like a tube of lipstick that’s been tapered down to a point at one end).
This begs the question: what the heck are they? I’m in northwest Indiana, and I’m not exactly accustomed to seeing bugs the size of Buicks. Are they dangerous?
Thanks…
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### Author:  [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2003, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-huge-bug/197983/2 "2003-08-27T15:44:11Z")
Interesting. I don’t live in a dorm but I work in one (in mid-Kentucky), and yesterday I saw this huge cockroach-looking thing on the floor - at least as thick as my thumb and a good deal longer. I killed it with some 409 but it’s _quite_ rare to see a bug that size around here.
That doesn’t answer your question, but it does point toward a huge-bug conspiracy of some sort for the midwest.
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### Author:  [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-huge-bug/197983/3 "2003-08-27T15:51:13Z")
[May be a European Hornet.](http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2128.html)
[They are very common in Kentucky](www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomology/ entfacts/struct/ef600.htm)
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### Author:  [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-huge-bug/197983/4 "2003-08-27T16:06:42Z")
It’s probably a locust. Do they have cigarish shaped bodies? Also, are you seeing a lot of little brown shells around that look odd and bug like? That is their husks that they molt.
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### Author:  [@Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floyd)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-huge-bug/197983/5 "2003-08-27T17:31:52Z")
Maybe they were cicada killer wasps? These are sphex wasps, which are parasitic digger wasps, and are famous for their inflexible behavior pattern. Here’s a link.
[http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=www.ppdl.purdue.edu/ppdl/images/cicada\_killer\_wasp-rule\_sm.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/ppdl/weeklypics/Weekly\_Picture7-30-01-2.html&h=150&w=200&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcicada%2Bkiller%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=www.ppdl.purdue.edu/ppdl/images/cicada_killer_wasp-rule_sm.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/ppdl/weeklypics/Weekly_Picture7-30-01-2.html&h=150&w=200&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcicada%2Bkiller%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8)
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### Author:  [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-huge-bug/197983/6 "2003-08-27T17:46:56Z")
Ohhhh. You know, could be grasshoppers… though my kneejerk reaction (and I’m in NW IN also) was cicada. There are an unholy number of gigantic dragonflies this year also…
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-huge-bug/197983/7 "2003-08-27T17:54:04Z")
Could it be a [longhorn beetle](http://eny3541.ifas.ufl.edu/alb/alb2.htm)?
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### Author:  [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-huge-bug/197983/8 "2003-08-27T18:33:36Z")
**Floyd** , that’s them, down to the burrowing (I’ve seen the burrows in the ground). ::shudders:: I don’t mind insects, normally, but wasps get to me. So, of course, the monster wasps of all time are going to infest the area around my dorm. ::sighs::
Thanks.