Thank you for your insect photo. Luckily, this is not the Asian Giant Hornet. It is a Cicada Killer in the genus: Sphecius. They are probably our most convincing hornet look-a-likes as they are very similar in overall appearance. Cicada killers hunt and paralyze cicadas to provision their underground nests with. Their offspring then feed on these paralyzed cicadas. They are not very aggressive but can sting if handled roughly.

Below are some characteristics that you can use to differentiate between cicada killers and Asian Giant Hornets. Asian Giant Hornets have extremely large orange heads. This orange coloration is in stark contrast to their more brownish thorax. Cicada killers have comparatively much smaller heads and the coloration between the head and thorax is far less divergent. Asian Giant Hornets have yellow/orange and brown stripes on their abdomen while cicada killers have banding with a different shape/broken up by yellow markings and often with distinct brown spots on the yellow markings. I’ve attached a few photos on the differences between cicada killers and Asian Giant Hornets since it's easier to see the differences in the pictures.

Thank you for your interest in keeping invasive species out of Oregon!

Tom Valente
July 20, 2022, 9:07 a.m.