Meet Vespa mandarinia, the Asian Giant Hornet or the Japanese Hornet. According to Wikipedia, getting stung by one of these monsters is like having a "a hot nail driven into your leg". Wikipedia also fails to mention, though, that they are now found not just in Asia, but right here in the southern US, specifically here in central North Carolina. I have probably killed upwards of a hundred of them in the last two months, half a dozen in the last week. The really bad part, for me, is that the ones that I have killed this week were killed while they buzzed the motion-sensor light on my back porch. Six feet from where I go in and out of the house. How do you spot a flying insect at night, before the light goes on? Answer: You don't.
My local extension agent gave some ideas on how to get rid of them, the best one being to call an exterminator. I would do that if I had any idea at all where the nest is. So, I have set a trap for them and hope that I get all of them before they get me. So far, I haven't been stung yet, but if I do, you will know about it.
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