Apparently there are now zombie cicadas?

[Terabith]

https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article244522767.html?fbclid=IwAR26Ub6PUmEC_BOWdnGb64NCEIY9DvfNM90R2sNesNqTwn3pmVW3gmvv48g

[Terabith]

Also, once again proving they have never seen a movie, scientists are reviving 101 million year old bacteria.  I cannot possibly foresee any way for this to go wrong.  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-science-microbes/scientists-revive-100-million-year-old-microbes-from-deep-under-seafloor-idUSKCN24T25A?fbclid=IwAR24NUG4Az5N5coDzUGezrU-CycBbU8p-uoXNr0TLD6PfnHX4dnA87br7o0

[MercyA]

Oh my.

[ElizabethB]

And a lot of people are still worried about murder hornets, there was the largest hornet type thing we've ever seen here, this is what the local Ag department sent us:

Thanks for sending us the photo of your insect of concern. I'm happy to report that it is not a Murder Hornet – well, happy for you – not so happy for the “stomped” insect. No Murder Hornets have been found in ______, so far. It is one of our native solitary wasps called the Western Cicada Killer. It does get nearly as large as the Murder Hornet (aka Asian Giant Hornet), however, it is a natural part of our ecosystem (I've received about a dozen photos of this species during the past week) and, compared to some of our local yellowjackets, paper wasps - and even honey bees - the Cicada Killer is a fairly nonaggressive insect and will generally try to avoid or escape from humans, rather than attack.

 

I am attaching a link to a "Fact Sheet" I recently generated with information about/photos of the Asian Giant Hornet and some of the local insects that might be mistaken for it:

 

 

 

[Terabith]

8 hours ago, ElizabethB said:

And a lot of people are still worried about murder hornets, there was the largest hornet type thing we've ever seen here, this is what the local Ag department sent us:

Thanks for sending us the photo of your insect of concern. I'm happy to report that it is not a Murder Hornet – well, happy for you – not so happy for the “stomped” insect. No Murder Hornets have been found in ______, so far. It is one of our native solitary wasps called the Western Cicada Killer. It does get nearly as large as the Murder Hornet (aka Asian Giant Hornet), however, it is a natural part of our ecosystem (I've received about a dozen photos of this species during the past week) and, compared to some of our local yellowjackets, paper wasps - and even honey bees - the Cicada Killer is a fairly nonaggressive insect and will generally try to avoid or escape from humans, rather than attack.

 

I am attaching a link to a "Fact Sheet" I recently generated with information about/photos of the Asian Giant Hornet and some of the local insects that might be mistaken for it:

 

 

 

I've seen cicada killers.  They're pretty scary looking!

[ElizabethB]

6 hours ago, Terabith said:

I've seen cicada killers.  They're pretty scary looking!

We had never seen one, it was scary looking; no one at our house felt too saddened at the demise of the "insect of concern," we had actually figured out it wasn't a murder hornet by the time the reply came back, but no one wanted a big scary hornet looking thing flying around them.

[Guest]

Zombie insects are well documented. The thing that scares me is that at least one of the funguses that causes it is sold as a dietary supplement for humans. Especially since there seem to be a lot of spineless folks in leadership positions.....

[Terabith]

18 minutes ago, dmmetler said:

Zombie insects are well documented. The thing that scares me is that at least one of the funguses that causes it is sold as a dietary supplement for humans. Especially since there seem to be a lot of spineless folks in leadership positions.....

I knew about zombie ants.  I did NOT know about fungus being sold as a dietary supplement for humans.  Honestly, this seems about as good an explanation for foolishness as any.  Terrifying!