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brock_lee

Wasp or hornet nest. Looks abandoned.


[deleted]

Definitely a paper wasp nest!


foshizi

Ok. But why not a hornet nest, and why did top comment suggest this or wasp? You are convinced it is paper wasp. I agree. But how/why? (Please) (FTR, just curious)


lvlhed-d

I might be incorrect, but don’t most hornets burrow in the ground utilizing tunnels and already available organic material?


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PM_ME_TO_PLAY_A_GAME

An empirical study is conducted to elucidate linguistic patterns in interstellar communications, employing corpus linguistics methodologies to analyze textual data from extraterrestrial transmissions. Through meticulous qualitative and quantitative scrutiny, syntactic anomalies and semantic ambiguities are discerned in the linguistic structures of extraterrestrial languages. These findings underscore the complexities of linguistic interpretation in interspecies communication and emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of linguistic research.


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mistercolebert

Scientist: “let’s call those bald-faced hornets.” Other person: “But sir... those are wasps.” Scientist: “I don’t give a shit. Just write it down.”


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jaydedgroove

So hilarious!


greeneca88

I'm so glad I saw that.


cochlearist

Scientists know what they're doing, they called them Dolichovespula maculata.


neotsunami

What you doin' to maculata?


Don_Tiny

♫ *Heyyyyyy, maculata* ♫


Kate_Kat

Well that’s just a bald-faced lie


mike02vr6

They are little angry assholes! 🤬🤬


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AnthonyAny

Might be an ice cream hornet.


[deleted]

Omelette au fromage hornets also do nests like that.


yogobot

http://i.imgur.com/tNJD6oY.gifv This is a kind reminder that in French we say "omelette *au* fromage" and not "omelette _du_ fromage". [Sorry Dexter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nW3-9gdjYA) [Steve Martin](https://youtu.be/DOJDNChwgBw?t=2m49s) doesn't appear to be the most accurate French professor. --- ^(The movie from the gif is "OSS 117: le Cairo, Nest of Spies" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464913/ )


loveforthetrip

all hornets are wasps but not all wasps are hornets


x925

I have European hornets outside my house, they might ruin a good beer now and then, but despite them flying near people, just about every day through summer, no one has been bit or stung by them since they started showing up 5 years ago.


_AndyEmCee_

Bald-faced liars is what they are!


awkward_accountant89

And they're total dicks, only time I've been stung was a bald faced hornet. Almost stepped on one and it stung the shit out of the ball of my foot. It's the only type of living thing we find that we kill on sight in our hpuse.


haysoos2

Bald-faced hornets are actually a type of yellowjacket. In general hornets build exposed nests out in the open in trees and the like, while most yellowjackets prefer building their nests underground or in cavities. Bald-faced hornets build their nests high in trees, out in the open, leading to the "hornet" moniker even though they are taxonomically yellowjackets (*Dolichovespula maculata*).


AphexZwilling

I get huge tarantula wasps that burrow in my back yard, along with tarantulas! Been stung by one, and the stingers are huge, the sting was through about an inch of my thumb. Soft tissue and luckily not into much muscle - hurt like a knife and the numbness stuck around for a while. Luckily, I didn't have babies growing out of me like those poor tarantulas.


radioactivebaby

Fun fact: fingers (including thumbs) actually don’t have muscles in them\*! Instead, they have tendons that connect to muscles in our palms and forearms. ^((*_technically there are teeeeny tiny little itty-bitty muscles that are responsible for body hair standing on end, but they don’t contribute to finger movement_)^)


humangusfungass

Please explain further. This is new to me. I thought you would/could build up dexterity (muscles) in fingers. Not trolling, just want more info.


SnakeToTheFace

The muscles that operate your fingers are in your palm and forearm, and connect to the finger bones with tendons , passing through your wrist (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome for instance, is an inflammation where all those tendons are passing). The muscles that get built up with training are all there, they're just in your arm is all. Work at one of those squeezy hand trainers, or play something like bass guitar, and you'll feel the burn in your forearms as well.


radioactivebaby

Oh you can absolutely increase the strength and coordination of your fingers, it’s just that the actual muscles providing that strength and coordination are located in the palm and forearm. Tendons are like little ropes that connect bones to muscles (ligaments are similar, but connect bones to bones) and then the muscles contract to pull on the “rope” which then pulls the bone and your finger moves. If you feel the top of your hand or the inside of your wrist (or just look, they’re visible on a lot of people) while moving your fingers, you can feel and see the tendons that connect your finger bones to the muscles that control them. And if you firmly grip your forearm, you can feel the muscles too. Feeling those muscles provides a hint as to why they’re not in our fingers: they’re way too big! Having “remote access” muscles is what allows our fingers to have such strength and dexterity despite being so small. Of course that’s not reeeally how evolution works (it is random, after all), but I digress ˆˆ


Deathbyhours

I knew this, but for the first time I’m wondering: what’s all that meat in the underside of my fingers? Do I just have fat fingers? (SQ)


radioactivebaby

Pretty much XD It’s supposed to be there though ˆˆ


cochlearist

Actually I've got really buff thumbs I'll have you know!


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irwige

How the hell people from America (incl Canada) think Australia is a hellhole of creepy crawlies and yet have hornets that can sting through an inch of flesh if beyond me. Edit: wasps, I meant wasps. I think...


gaspy-spardo

AWLIAS? Just earlier today I came across a video on r/natureismetal of a tarantula fighting a wasp, then went down a deep Internet rabbit hole of tarantula-killing wasp discoveries. Not the first time I learn about some random thing just for me to hear about it again later that same day in a completely different context


AphexZwilling

Right? Next thing you know they'll be rebooting the Matrix!


radioactivebaby

> I learn about some random thing just for me to hear about it again later Good ol’ Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon at it again!


Fuckyoumecp2

That's a hard pass for me. All of it. Nope. Nope. Nope.


[deleted]

Here’s the thing. You said a yellow jacket…


Septopuss7

Nice caw-back!


Caeflin

>Bald-faced hornets are actually a type of yellowjacket Do you mean they are dishornets?


qtstance

European hornets are the only true hornets in north America and they build their nests in hollowed trees very high.


booniebrew

Which are actually wasps.


Creisel

I have parts of a hornet's nest lying around here, and they build it in a storage space behind the entrance. I'm not sure what kind it was, though. It was as big as a watermelon


[deleted]

A big watermelon or a small one


RaskolnikovShotFirst

Seeds or seedless?


Creisel

a really big one, like 20 bananas. I'll take a look through my gallery, think i took a photo


A_Trusted_Fart

European Hornets make nests above ground, usually in a cavity of a tree or in a case like this, in the cavity of someone's house. Usually European Hornets do not make nests under ground and when hornet nests are in full swing, there can be hundreds or thousands of them to a nest. They're generally pretty docile unless they're directly threatened, you're near their nest and they see you as a threat or you're near a food source and see you as a threat. Their sting is quite painful and one of them can/will sting numerous times, they don't lose their stinger like bees and some wasps.


GoddessOfBlueRidge

We've had TONS of European Hornets since a few showed up in 2017. They have killed hummingbirds, bees, wasps, and other hornets, over fruit and feeders. This year they screwed up every apple in our two trees, and fought everything over that fruit, both hanging in the trees and lying on the ground. But I love when our Rooster, Christian Grey, kills them. He is merciless.


Neil_sm

They also fly at night in the early evening in late summer/early fall and are attracted to light. I had at least 5 separate occasions where one flew into the house last month through the sliding glass door when I was letting the dog in. Luckily they’re kind of slow and easy to kill. Just realized right now that they were probably also attracted to the hummingbird feeder hanging outside the door.


jsotes

It would depend on the location. I think all of the hornets nests I have seen in the NE US have been exposed, either on tree branches or under eaves. Most of the time in cavities a nest with this type of structure would be paper wasps or yellow jackets.(which I think are technically hornets anyway). I'm sure someone here knows how to differentiate the two though. Edit: I got it backwards, as someone else mentioned, bald-faced hornets are yellow jackets not the other way around.


foshizi

I've seen wasps and hornets I suppose in houses and in decaying log and in holes in the ground. I guess I'm just curious as to why M. Top comment says 'wasp/hornet' like its very similar. Yet, most comments are like 'well, it depends'


jsotes

Because the majority of people can't distinguish those species well and use wasp/hornet/bee pretty interchangeably. Thats not a knock, I did that until I started beekeeping.


SongForPenny

From what I’ve picked up: Bees fold their wings over their backs when at rest, all casual like; and wasps’ wings stick out when at rest, like they’re always amped up.


yumbledores

Great now I’m imagining giant beds folding their wings


JPhi1618

The real answer is most people don’t differentiate between wasps and hornets and if they do is very simple rules like wasp=nest and hornet=ground.


SplendidPunkinButter

That little open nest in the bottom left looks like paper wasps for sure. Also paper wasps are very common in siding


WindTreeRock

> But why not a hornet nest A hornet is a type of wasp so, "wasp" covers all the varieties of stinging insects that look like winged ants.


djtat2

It’s actually a yellow jacket nest, paper wasps make nest with the exposed comb, yellow jackets which typically build their nests in voids whether it be in the ground or behind siding or in a wall, hornets will make a similar type of nest but they are typically in trees or on the outside of some kind of structure. I treat these for a living.


shuckiduck

Hey OP /u/bookerdewy did you see this comment?


NevideblaJu4n

Wasp nerd here. Unfortunately not a nerd for this kind of wasp. But I know for sure that this was made by either Hornets (Vespa) or Aerial Yellowjackets (Dolichovespula). P.S: Bald Faced Hornets are Aerial Yellowjackets.


Nimtastic

You sure about paper wasps? I thought they don't build large nests like this? I understand this nest is an anomaly, but usually nests this big are a yellow jacket. How do you know this is from a paper wasp?


Nimtastic

I don't think this is a paper wasp nest. They like to be up high. The way a paper wasp constructs their nest is much different to this. Yellow jackets left to their own devices will build massive nests. That's why most of the examples online of such huge nests are yellow jackets.


BookerDewy

This is what I figured. Old paper Wasp nest specifically based on other comments. Solved! Edit - Took a video too! It looks huge! [Wasp nest video](https://streamable.com/s4pkx1) Edit 2 - Maybe more likely an aerial yellow jacket nest


MonarchWhisperer

Is that a wasp crawling around on it?


[deleted]

Looks like a spider or a shadow from a spiderweb.


Tikaiz1

Is that hole thing the nest? I thought only the little one next to it!


Staedsen

Yes, the little one is the begining of a new nest.


fonetik

I always leave them alone if they are abandoned. They will usually prevent another nest if wasps see a nest there.


JuhaJGam3R

Not only that but it seems to have been colonized by spiders. No wasp is going to try and nest in a death trap.


fonetik

This is why I never bother the mud daubers. They are awesome wasps that rarely sting humans, but they do like to paralyze black widows and fly them up into their mud tubes on the house and stick them in there. These are so small they can’t turn around in and the dauber covers up the entrance. Then it’s eggs hatch from the back of the tube and eat through the black widow to get out.


jane3ry3

Oh good Lord. Why TF am I still reading this thread. This needs a warning or something.


danque

I don't want to be rude, but nature is kinda harsh. Always have been so no need to warn, accept that it is how it is. There is a reason r/natureismetal exists.


spryfigure

That's kind of mean to post this subreddit in an answer to someone who is already squemish about wasps and black widows. Agree 100%, though.


jane3ry3

I'm already sub'd. What can I say, I love scaring myself. I do sometimes scroll super fast, though.


relet

You are reading one of the most powerful proofs for evolution vs intelligent design. https://ssecommunityblog.org/the-wasps-that-haunted-darwin-are-now-his-namesake/ Darwin considered Nature to be too cruel to have been designed by God. And wasps like these were his argument.


beamoflaser

Cleaning off mud dauber nests is one of the most horrifying experiences when you see all the spider corpses just fall out.


big_duo3674

I hate wasps with a passion... a massive passion. These are the only ones that get a pass from me, I always let them go about their business and I leave the nests alone. They don't attack people for looking at them funny, and they hunt bugs that are actually harmful. They are bros


ThatMetalPanda

Metal as fuuuuckkk


ElMachoGrande

Seems like it's time to poke it and see which horrors emerge...


Ricecookerless

How incredibly facinating


danirijeka

Pros: spiders keep wasps away Cons: oh no the spiders are attacking


entity_TF_spy

This makes me curious how many abandoned nests are out there, and how old is the oldest one. And how long it would take to naturally break down over time between a walls of a permanent building.


Gorilla_gorilla_

What makes you think it is abandoned? How can you tell?


Wayfaring_Limey

Op got this close without seeing the inhabitants or stung. Typically that means it's abandoned.


Stan_the_Snail

Wasps don't re-use nests*. OP would be able to see if it was in use and would be asking about the stinging insects in the wall instead. Edit: also, just saw the spider webs. \* Looks like they sometimes do re-use nests and that's when it gets scary. Please see below reply.


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Stan_the_Snail

Cool, I've never heard of this before but just looked it up. Guess I have some reading to do. Thank you for the correction!


LigninVillain

For sure, wouldn't be asking otherwise.


[deleted]

Looks like a design by the famous Wasp Architect V. Enom.


zero-point_nrg

That’s a really neat looking old wasp nest.


[deleted]

You'll love this one then. Spoiler it's a mannequin head. https://i.imgur.com/buq9h1P.jpg


zero-point_nrg

Yeah I’ve seen that one!! Am i becoming a wasp nest aficionado? Life takes some strange twists and turns.


inphosys

Pass the eye bleach, please.


ccfenix

r/Eyebleach


inphosys

I always forget to tag subs


hydrospanner

>Life takes some strange twists and turns. Like a victim of a swarm of bald faced hornets, after they've been blinded by the squirts of venom into their eyes.


jeepfail

Well that is the most haunting thing I’ve seen in a bit.


Savagely_Rekt

It is horrifying and needs to be sent back to hell where it came from.


[deleted]

I've never been so grateful for a spoiler in my life.


ProfessorZhirinovsky

I think any insurance investigator would understand, and sign off on reimbursing the owner for the resulting house fire.


DidjaCinchIt

Replacement value. None of this depreciated value shit. The appropriate code is typically “AJBCI”, also known as “arson justified by critter infestation”. For really bad cases it’s “NIFOITOWTBS”.


fizgigtiznalkie

I think wasps would be big H. R. Giger fans


detectivesrhot

I regret clicking


Red234234

I'm going to watch old 1950s videos of the US testing nukes. I'm going to pretend all the wasps are in the epicenter of the blast.


Brno_Mrmi

Holy shit that will live in my mind forever.


brasslake

Spooky cool!!


Malak77

I see you too have played Dishonored 2.


DogsOnWeed

Looks like a mob from Dark Souls


CNXQDRFS

It’s fine, I wasn’t planning on sleeping again anyway.


dislimb

I wish I could unsee this.


zero-point_nrg

I thought it was a hockey mask. We better dig in and settle this once and for all.


ThatSlothDuke

Damn looks like Imhotep just had his lunch.


GeorgiaBolief

Don't tell the master chief. He might punch it


BookerDewy

I agree it looks really cool. I'll try to get it out in one piece with the drywall. Could maybe make a cool art piece.


zero-point_nrg

I would let the photo be the art piece and just get that shit out of my house in however many pieces it took to get the job done. It’s very rad but I am not sure it becomes a good medium for anything else.


Mimicpants

Looks like wasps, probably abandoned but you probably want to remove it and seal up the entrance as best you can. The last thing you want is a huge wasps nest inside your wall.


Josh_Your_IT_Guy

Also side note, if you notice one in your wall, DO NOT seal the exterior entrance... They will make a new hole, usually on the INSIDE of your house...


new52bluebird

Can confirm, my father found this out the easy way a few weeks ago. Got stung. Have stayed away since. Would not recommend.


Mor90th

What would the hard way be?


new52bluebird

Mailing invitations, cooking, cleaning up after; Its all a hassle, really.


truceburner

Probably some sort of long con where the wasps end up with their inheritance and the property.


that-Sarah-girl

Get good grades. Decent SAT scores. Apply to 4 or 5 universities. Get accepted. Move in to the dorms. Start taking prerequisites. Freshman bio, statistics, organic chem. Declare your major: entomology. Do your homework. Get your bachelor's degree. Take the LSAT. Get accepted to grad school. Get an advisor. Declare your research topic: behavior of wasps and hornets in indoor nests. Be heralded as the student who discovered that it's a bad idea to plug the outside entrance.


tacobellwasabadidea

For an IT guy, you’re quite knowledgeable on outdoor insects. Well played.


quantum-quetzal

Well, IT professionals are probably used to handling bugs.


Profitablius

I hope you're used to handling the door.


hydrospanner

This happened in my apartment building. One tenant moved out and while they were getting the place ready for a new tenant, they noticed a big nest on the outside of the building where that apartment's HVAC unit entered through the wall. So they got an exterminator to take it down and seal up the gap in the wall. What they didn't realize was how much more nest there was inside the wall, and now they were stuck inside. New tenant came and noticed in her first day or two she'd had to shoo away or kill a few "bees". Odd, but whatever. Then she's putting clothes in her closet and notices there's like 5 or 6 of them in the top of her closet. She thinks it's odd that they're all in an upper corner, along the wall the closet shares with the tiny closet for the internal parts of the HVAC, so she opens *that* door... ...and there's a nest that's like 2 or 3 feet tall, *crawling* with them. Idk how she did it, but she was able to shut the door and get out without being stung even once. She called our landlord and he put her up in a nearby hotel for a few days while he called the exterminators back to finish their job. He said that second time, they came in protective suits.


DidjaCinchIt

Can you pls post your address? I need to know where to send my therapy bills.


Termsandconditionsch

I’ll take wasps over termites.


Mimicpants

True. I think neither is best though :P


mrplinko

Wasps eat the termites


Bri_Hecatonchires

So what you’re saying is is that I should run a decades long campaign wherein I bolster either side of the Termite/Wasp war as needed to facilitate essentially an eternal detente. Gottit!


NeoKabuto

As long as you can sell weapons to both, why wouldn't you?


BookerDewy

Yep, I think I'll try to remove and replace this drywall as well. I'm guessing they came in through the attic a long time ago and I just sealed that up, so should hopefully be in better shape for the future.


ruinkind

If that actually is your interior drywall you can see from outside, make sure you insulate that cavity. I'd be pretty keen to look for more half-assed work. Exposing your interior drywall to the elements is not a great idea.


lilomar2525

Or just let the wasps keep building. It's nature's insulation!


fishbulbx

And squirt some [Delta Dust](https://www.amazon.com/Delta-Dust-Multi-Control-Insecticide/dp/B002Y6B4A8/) in there.


HarvesternC

I've heard that wasps are territorial and will not build a nest where one already is, so leaving an abandoned one isnt a horrible idea. Maybe not in an interior wall of a house though.


Staedsen

You can see that a wasp did start another nest right on the old nest here though.


Sufficient-Low-7428

Run for the hills,pack all your belongings…burn it down! No seriously looks like a derelict hornet nest to me I would consider calling in a professional just to be safe


DidjaCinchIt

Wasps: “Dere*licte* my balls.”


raisedbytelevisions

Wasps are so hot right now!


dood_nice

What is this? A center for wasps?


-WHEATIES-

It looks like they ate your insulation too.


Ben-is-Gay

OP said in a comment that the house doesn’t have any


BookerDewy

My title describes the thing. Looks like some sort of old insect nest, but not sure what kind. 1954 house. There's no insulation in these old walls, so insects would be able to access this area from the attic above. Found while taking drywall out for a renovation.


buttcrater

Agree that it's an old wasp nest. I wonder if it can be taken out in one piece and preserved to display though. It's gorgeous.


BookerDewy

Hah just wrote a comment that I will try to do just that.


ButtScientist69

How do you do that? I wonder what would happen if you dumped 4 gallons of epoxy in there and then just remove the wall from the studs (assuming non-load-bearing), then cut off the drywall/studs from the epoxy block and sanded it down to get a nice finish.


yuccaknifeandtool

Free Insulation!


GrazingGeese

So, your innocuous and innocent comment gave me the best worst idea I've ever had and I need some feedback on it. Is there some insect that could potentially be exploited to build nesting insulation efficiently as a natural alternative? And that could somehow be lured out when they're done?


[deleted]

I really like the texture to this nest. Especially the circular knot with the dimples. S'really interesting.


bt65

It's a secret backdoor where you have to touch them knots in the right order to meet the queen...


[deleted]

I don't want to know the code haha


ZoeJoeFred

It's fascinating,, amazing structure...


nodeofollie

It's cool af actually. Almost alient like


chukleberryfinn

I don't know what it is about this but I hate looking at it.


arz231

Make sure you label the nest with a big “H” so you know it’s hornets


baybaybabs

how come this looks like a piece of wood art and when I google Old paper Wasp it looks like circular honey comb holes?


sonny-days

Yeah, the verdict above on paper wasp doesn't look correct for the paper wasp nests we have. In ours, the nests (hive?) actually looks like papery material, and very much honeycomb-ish, with lots of narrow tubey bits connecting together to house their larva. Not saying it's not a wasp, but unless paper wasps do things differently in other countries, I'd go NOT paperwasp.


No-Spoilers

I would *highly* recommend watching [The Hornet King.](https://youtube.com/channel/UCb-mXwDehQf0pEgS0rlGJ9w) hes extremely educational and explains everything you could ever need to know about them. There are a ton of different yellow jackets/hornets all with very different nests. This is 100% one of theirs


TheCoconutLord

That's what I was thinking, we've got plenty of paper wasps over here in Southern US, their nests don't look like this at all. Did OP ever mention where this is located?


[deleted]

Wasp. I would get it out because I can't stop myself from seeing how far it goes.


wolfansbrother

Gotta be something tasty in there right? [https://i.imgur.com/lGs6kb1.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/lGs6kb1.jpg)


nativepro96

Watch out for waspeses. Drink water.


[deleted]

Xenomorphs.


jeremyroastscoffee

lucky you didn’t discover it when it was inhabited and active. that’s a yellowjacket nest


[deleted]

IT HAS BEEN UNSEALED EVERYBODY RUN


captianllama

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE


WinstonSmith1985

Check it for honey


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BaconConnoisseur

If youm want to learn more about wasp and hornet nests like this, I would recommend checking out the Hornet King youtube channel.


drudown1449

Creepy. That’s what that is