I’ll be kind and put the photo below the fold. There was a horrifying discovery in Spain.
Police in the Spanish city of San Sebastián de la Gomera have cordoned off an abandoned house after finding a 22-foot-long wasp nest.
As ThinkSpain reports, officers were called to the scene by concerned neighbours. The massive nest is located in a hallway and may contain millions of wasps. Experts say that the common wasp found in Spain could never build a nest of this size, leading them to think that it’s an invasive species from Africa.
The police have not been able to trace the owner of the house.
That last line…if this were a horror movie, you would know exactly where the owner was.
i think if you look closely you can still see what’s left of the owner’s face in the upper right corner.
I haz a scared. :o
No, I think that’s Jesus. Looks just like the one in my waffle this morning…
@ #3:
If it’s not in burnt toast or the rain runoff on a municipal building, it’s not the real thing.
Invasive species? Has anyone considered that the spaniards may be members of an invasive species? I think that this is part of how evolution is supposed to work. Populations of African wasps needs to survive and this one is finding new territory. Invasive species.
Did you stop to consider if tiktaalik was once an invasive species? Did the insects of Nunavat roll out the red carpet for them? I seriously doubt it.
Please check your species privilege at the door.
The owner has probably been evicted by the banks like so many others and is living now out of what some supermarket throws away each night. That’s Spain in 2013 for you.
That picture can’t be a photo of the nest in the report, right? There’s a jamb or wall edge in the picture at the original, and the wood grain makes it look more like a normal 2-3 feet tall and wide. If they’re going to have a story like that, they should make the picture one that really shows the size of the thing in question.
“Go on Juan, poke it with a stick. Poke it! It’ll be okay, poke it!”
Ahhhh to be young and foolish again.
Beats old and foolish any day.
Louis
(Clarification: I know that was the picture in the orig. story, I just think they might have used a stock photo for it)
As one allergic to bee stings, this is truly my worst fear made real.
Actually, this reminds me…we have a wasp problem every summer, and I know they like to nest in our attic. Since the kids are gone, they aren’t occupying the upstairs bedrooms anymore, and I just realized I haven’t cracked the door to the attic in 2 or 3 years.
Uh-oh.
I’m going to have to check this out. Later. In the spring. With poisons, explosives, and a flamethrower.
Normal?
Normal?!
NORMAL??!!
No, PZ, DOOOOOOOOOOON’T! You’ll only anger the dangerous little fuckers!
Nuke ’em from orbit.
Audrey @ 13
It’s the only way to be sure.
carlie, I followed the links back to the original article and it appears io9 stretched the width of the image out to double what it originally was. So either the original article is using some stock photo, or the nest wraps around out of sight, or that background is really misleading.
Sure, blame the immigrants.
LOL.
Wasps are carnivorous.
There wouldn’t be anything left but bones.
PZ, the time to strike is now. It’s probably cold enough up there so that they’re not active. If you can cut off any heat to the attic overnight, that would be good.
PZ
Do your attic attack now, while they’re frozen.
I used to have an amazing talent for walking on or too close to wasp nests built very near the ground in low brush. Always while wearing shorts. They don’t like having their homes disturbed. I suppose I should be grateful they were US wasps with a second amendment fetish.
If I had wasps in my attic I’d probably go buy a package of assorted bright colors of construction paper and hang some sheets up for them. Some are known to make use of such for building their nests. I would, however, likely come to regret my actions.
All this reminds me I wanted to put out some bee houses. I usually have one or two big bees that seem to take up residence behind my power meter, entering through a hole that shouldn’t be there. They are very nice bees and I’d like to have a few more around.
Don’t forget to wear your wasp-proof armor when you go to the attic. Also have 911 on speed dial
Note that the location, San Sebastián de la Gomera, is in the Canary Islands, not mainland Spain. I suspect the picture just shows one end of the nest which may run on down a hallway to the right.
And hilariously, a Google search for San Sebastián de la Gomera Wasp comes up with a picture of ex-pope Benedict!
Oh piffle!
“they were US wasps” should be “they weren’t US wasps”
So this is not a type of wasp found in Spain, but believed to be an invasive species from Africa.
Did anyone else note that the town this is in is in the Canary Islands, which belong to Spain, but in fact are off the coast of, you guessed it, AFRICA?
Evil Doug #20:
Please do. Bees can use some help. They can also be quite pleasant neighbours. Basically: you leave them alone, they leave you alone.
I find wasps fascinating but only from a healthy distance.
Sili – well, more normal. We had a 3-foot across wasp nest fall out of a tree in the backyard during a storm a couple of years ago. Inactive, thankfully (or they all got the heck out before we noticed it).
PZ – we had a wasps in the attic problem too. Ours were all entering through crappy soffit vents, so we hired someone to redo the soffits for us when it was still cold out and used foaming killer spray on any found nests. After that was done, I went into the attic then and did the same from the inside in the eaves and used spray foam to fill any visible gaps to the outside. By the time it was wasp season a few weeks later, the problem was mostly gone. Now’s the time to go kill them off, before they come out of hibernation.
Re: flamethrower:
Anecdote I I never was afraid of the common wasp (I don’t think there are any other species in my country), I just find them extremely annoying. I usually didn’t empathisize with the alien lifeform called insect (except for ants and humble bees), but that changed a little when I learned that wasps seem to be able to recognize other wasps’ faces. Anyway, I didn’t give a single fuck when I had to destroy a wasp colony that invaded the (stone) double wall of my shed: they had nested in it through a ventilation slit in the outer wall. I fitted my ‘flamethrower’ (a DIY piping tool) at their front door and kept it on until it ran out of gas. VERY effective, I can tell you.
Anecdote II A wasp nest that I found in my sister’s garage (it looked like a blob of pur foam at first) is now on display at a friend’s home — it’s a thing of beauty for sure: a paper marvel of chewed wood. (BTW, not grey, but yellow!)
Anecdote III I once found a humble bees’ nest in the garden. Another marvel of nature.
Insects are interesting aliens, tho’ it’s hard to empathisize with the the critters.
I saw a peculiar waspish looking creature one day. I say wasp-ish because it was at least 2 times bigger than any wasp I had seen in the northwest so acting on the assumption that bigger is more painful I squished it. turns out it was a Five-Banded Tiphiid Wasp who deposit eggs into tree beetles so they have no beef with people at all. Embarrassed myself greatly for my prejudice so now a I google flying whatsits before I go all Seal Team Six on them. You just never know when that scary new neighbor will be a good friend.
We had a yellowjacket wasp problem in my apartment building a few years ago. I found them going in and out of a hole in the wall next to the stairs, which I promptly plugged up. A few days later, I heard a loud *BOOM*. I figured one of the neighbors had dropped something–was I ever wrong! The next morning, as I walked down the stairs, I saw a giant pile of sheetrock on the stairs and looked up. There, where the underside of the stairwell was, was a basketball-sized wasp nest hanging from a stair tread. The size and weight had collapsed the underside of the stairs. I took a picture before calling property management to have it taken care of. :P
Wasps communicate through pheromones. While the nest may be huge the active part will not be too large – a few cubic feet at most for ‘wasps’.
I’m allergic to the little bastards we get in the UK but spend a few days dissecting and 9′ by 6′ by 5′ nest I found in our attic – it consists of pods of cells that were used on a yearly basis. Every year a new pod was built on the outside of the old ones and with care you could find out what plants were used at various times of the year for construction. It was a work of surreal beauty and didn’t fill a 2gallon bucket when crushed carefully. I think that was about 12 to 15 years work.
If you ever want to gasp at the how amazing evolution is find an wasp nest at the end of the season and treat it with reverence and slowly take it apart. Failing that just enjoy the sheer beauty of the marquetry if you are lucky enough to live near a woodyard or mixed forest.
@24: See me, at #22!
One of my jobs was working on a dead tree removal/ fire fuel reduction program in southern California. My job was to count the trees as they were cut, and mark the stumps. Which meant that when the tree hit the ground, the crew would move onto the next tree, and I would walk over to mark the stump…just as the bees were coming out to talk to whoever just knocked down their tree…
I’ve never had to much problems with wasps, aside from being afraid of them (it’s a very primordial fear). Far more scary are what my father calls “pine bugs”; they grow to about the size and proportions of ones pinky, and are very willing to bite.
#29: Did you have to say that? Last time I checked the attic, the nest I saw was directly above where my head is right now.
Kerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrikey!
Thank FSM that Chris can continue Pharyngula since PZ will soon be brained by the ceiling coming down on his head. Thanks for planning ahead, PZ.
@ PZ: I guess you don’t want me to mention what wasps did to my grandmother’s bedroom ceiling then, huh? (Hint: the exact same thing—right above her bed.)
Mwahahahahahaha*cough*choke*sputter* Sorry, something caught in my throat.
Jacob Schmidt #33
Really? I’ve never been afraid of wasps, so I’m inclined to think that such fear is cultural in origin.
I think they are fascinating and beautiful.
Just have a look at this little fella:
http://www.fugleognatur.dk/gallery_showlarge.asp?ID=203604
Ulysses:
I’m starting a pool on how long afterward people will leave comments saying “great post, PZ!”
“That last line…if this were a horror movie, you would know exactly where the owner was.”
Ummm…. maybe they should check anyway, just to be sure?
I like the “meat bees” that we have out here in L.A. since their main diet seems to the green bottle fies that are an unsanitary annoyance , so I don’t bother their nests nor the ones that eat caterpillars who are slightly larger than the ones the eat the flies. Neither of them nor any thing else has access to the inside or underneath of my house. Some times I leave the ones on the porch stay there works great to dissuade the Jehovah wit-less’s and the Mormons and other unwanted knockers on my front door.
I heard a story from a roofer I met who had to remove a bee hive from between two layers of a roof between the porch and the main roof that filled two trips of a Toyota PU to haul away after they were all killed.
uncle frogy
I am terrified of wasps. Bees too, though if I recognize them as honeybees I can manage to control the fear. I know exactly where it comes from too. An overactive imagination as a child.
However, it’s still with me though I can control it most of the time.
I know need to know, and need someone else to tell me…is the picture of the “japanese hornet” that is in one of the first comments on the io9 page for real? It actually gave me that jolt of terror and I tried to google it but the images just destroyed my poor psyche.
Please…the giant nest was bad…but if wasps that size exist I may just move to Antarctica.
I am terrified of wasps. Bees too, though if I recognize them as honeybees I can manage to control the fear. I know exactly where it comes from too. An overactive imagination as a child.
However, it’s still with me though I can control it most of the time.
I now need to know, and need someone else to tell me…is the picture of the “japanese hornet” that is in one of the first comments on the io9 page for real? It actually gave me that jolt of terror and I tried to google it but the images just destroyed my poor psyche.
Please…the giant nest was bad…but if wasps that size exist I may just move to Antarctica.
oops, sorry for the double post!
For those who don’t know (most Americans I imagine), La Gomera is one of the Canary Islands. Politically we’re an autonomous region of Spain, but geographically we’re off the coast of West Africa, about 1,000 miles from the Spanish mainland. So most of Spain is probably safe from this new wasp for a while yet, but I’m on the neighbouring island of La Palma, and I’m not happy.
A friend of mine has bees in the wall of her house. There is a constant low humming sound coming from that wall if you put your ear to it. During a heatwave a couple of years ago she could scrape off the honey that came oozing off the inside of the wall.
Horrifying to me – I’m lethally allergic to the damn things, have lost breathing once from them when I was quite young, and had my hand puff up bigger than a softball when a honeybee just walked across the back of my hand one summer day. I carry an epi-pen for it.
So I’ll just be admiring it from here inside my nice safe apartment, the one with carefully-cultivated Spiders of Doom in all the window spaces…(we like spiders, spiders are our friends, they make the naughty flying death machines go away, yes they do, and tidy up flies rather nicely into the bargain).
The most horrific wasp on earth, bar none, is the bald-faced hornet.
What, they are too wasps. Hornet, wasp, yellowjacket (Georgia Tech!), all are wasps, right?
Actually, I think I was raised a WASP. And, considering the damage some of the WASPs have done here in the US, I retract my first statement.
Oh, and, wonderful post, PZed.
I seem to recall some of the denizens were developing an LOLcat orbital weapon a few months back. Perhaps they have perfected it?
He’s in freakin’ Minnesota! Do you really think that it’ll be cold there? I mean, it is April, right?
Damn.
I forgot to include Chris Clarke’s quote.
And I borkquoted. Bravo for me.
Wasps. can’t trust ’em. always excluding non-wasps from their country club, and they put mayonnaise on everything.
Nah, the Pullet Patrol Products™ prototype p*h*a*s*e*r on stun/burn looks like the ticket. Might leave most of the house structure intact.
Ogvorbis
It’s 36 F 2 C, dreary, with several inches of FRESH snow. Cabin Fever is going to reach epidemic proportions if spring doesn’t stop lollygagging about.
Even more evidence (as if we needed more) that sarcasm and the internet are only marginally compatible. Sorry.
René #27:
Bumblebees. They are the stocky round bees that you can pet while they are foraging on your flowers. They don’t care at all, very cool.
Yes, among the insects eusocial wasps are probably the most intelligent. Also, dragonflies.
I don’t find it too difficult. I am convinced that insects, while very simple animals, actually do have (very simple) feelings and experiences. It may be true that their emotions are mostly regulated by pheromones, but then again our own feelings and behaviours are the result of brain chemistry, too. Through my limited experience with bees I don’t doubt that they experience fear, rage, lust, happiness (when they are safe among their own), et cetera.
If I had wasps nesting in my attic I would also try to get rid of them by any means, but I would still feel bad for the wasps. If it were bees, I would try to have them relocated (you can usually call a local beekeeper to do that for you) or just put up with them for a season.
In order to lure solitary bees and wasps into your garden, you can build an insect hotel. It is very interesting to watch what happens in there.
Sorry Og, I am apparently manifesting an advanced case of cabin fever. The snow is evilllllllllllll.
I like wasps and bees, and I plant lots of food and provide nesting habitat for them every year.
The paper wasps do a great job taking care of pest management in my garden.
MadHatter #43:
Yes, it is real. It is a Japanese giant hornet, you can look it up on Wikipedia. They are ferocious murderers (of other insects) but harmless to people. As long as you don’t make them mad, I guess.
Insects like the European honey bee have absolutely no defence against them. It is on Youtube if you can stomach witnessing the massacre: 30 hornets vs. 30,000 bees.
Indigenous honey bees do have an interesting strategy to deal with the hornets: Japanese Giant Hornet Scout Killed by Asian Bees.
Truly, it ought not to be difficult to deal with. A small-yield nuclear weapon—100 kt, tops—ought to do the trick right quick.
NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition…..
My parents had a good sized beehive in a gap in an exterior wall of their house. They kept getting these big, furry, orange-banded guys coming into the house in ones and twos. Unfortunately they called an exterminator, not a beekeeper, to remove them :-(
@Anders Kehlet
I find them very interesting. From a distance of at least a few feet. And in full view. Once I can’t see them or they get too close, I get really nervous.
olav
that is brilliant
uncle frogy
My first thought sent a shiver down my spine as I hate the blighters as much as anybody else but then I thought how magnificent!
Olav @57
I tried to look them up. I really did. I nearly ended up in a ball gibbering inanely. I had hoped it was someones idea of a very bad joke that hornets got so big, and it truly doesn’t matter if they are harmless to me or not. There is no other critter in the world that can inspire this level of terror for me and size really does matter. I have a hard enough time with our native yellowjackets and various wasps that are no more than an inch or two.
Antarctica…here I come…
No.
“Normal” is 20 cm.
30 cm is BIG!
1 m is out of this world horrible.
MadHatter #64:
My use of the word “harmless” in #57 was not accurate of course, giant hornets can be quite dangerous to people. So your fear of them is not entirely unreasonable, if that makes you feel any better. However the hornets do not deliberately attack humans, they are simply not interested in us unless we disturb them.
prfesser @58: Have you lost your mind? Don’t you know what happens when you mix vicious insects and nuclear weaponry/radiation? Drop that bomb, and soon the phrase “22-foot wasp’s nest” will need another hyphen!
A more serious suggestion for dealing with wasp nests: A shop-vac.
Half-fill the bin with water and some insecticide and fix as long of a pipe as you can handle to the end of the hose. Start vacuuming up the nest, the wasps will react to this intruder by attacking it, (and joining their nest in the bin).
OK, but they’re just building on an old foundation. They are not using the whole nest–it’s mostly empty and sealed-off chambers.
PZ, I echo the advice to get someone to take care of it now before the wasps awaken or hatch. If there’s no sign of insects, you can probably just put a plastic bag over it, scrape it off, and drop it into a freezer. Maybe the entomology department would like it.
Come on. 3 ft is less than 19 cm. :-þ
:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D