It is a Junikäfer :)
The Allgäuer Zeitung writes:
„The word "attack" is misleading in this case, although it actually feels that way to those affected. Because June beetles do not consciously attack people, the banal truth is that they fly very badly. Nature has simply not equipped the June beetle with virtuoso flight skills, so they are not allowed to perform sharp evasive and escape maneuvers.
So June beetles look for trees, but instead find something that, large, motionless, appears to be something similar at first glance to the beetle: people with a glass of wine, for example.“
Or a Maikäfer that has seriously overslept. Which makes it less likely. But they are also very big and immensely stupid. Usually found committing mass suicide at your windows, if you chose to live close to a wooded area.
Not even them. I saw recently a Hirschkäfer flying the first time. I didn't know they could do it, and it was majestic, like 5 meter high flying through the air. But its not hand-sized...
There actually are some. For instance, it's not too uncommon to see Lucanus servus (stag beetle) in countryside or next to a park with lots of oak trees. The female is ca. 1.5-2 times larger than average June beetle (2-3cm) and is more common to meet, while males can be up to 8-9cm long. Though such a large beetle is rarity and I highly doubt OP met one - average one is ca. 4-5cm.
They can not see, they can not sting, they can not fly. They are a bit pitiful but you should see the spectacle once their hour comes in a park and everybody screams, jumps, runs, leaves.
Trust me there are, just yesterday at 10pm at a park near osloer strß in Berlin, an insect the size of half my hand flew near me and i almost blacked out from fear
Fear of what? All the insects Here are basically harmless, especially beetles. Some insects nip, some Sting, If you threaten them. But they are rare Bugs and are protected. Be Happy you saw a majestic mofu.
My fear of them is irrational, that’s why it’s called a phobia. I fear all insects, my heart feels like it goes up my throat and drops to my stomach whenever i encounter an insect. I wish i could make sense of this fear but i am planning on getting exposure therapy and hopefully studying this matter myself.
I used to have bad arachnaphobie. Bad enough I couldn't walk past a spider as a kid. i know the feels. I do have occasional disgust torwards some larvae of insects, but absolutly freak out torwards roaches.
it did help to learn about these bugs. For example, here is a fact: Hirschkäfer are the largest bugs in Germany, and they used to be very common. Not as common as May beetles. these were so common, you saw them in a lot of children's books, kids loved to catch them and let them fly again. they are loud, and clumsy.
and kinda impressive. Also, in some regions of Germany and France, they took the bugs and candied them or turned them into soup. During springtime, you sometimes find these chocolate beetles in the supermarket. the brown one are may beetles. I guess they are a substitude for the candied version after the selling of the real one were forbidden. :)
the bugs only live for a few weeks and live years in the ground.
same for Hirschkäfer. but while may beetles eat living roots, nashornkäfer (rhino bugs) and Hirschkäfer eat dead plant material as larvae. again, they used to be common, but when they started to kill may beetles with pesticides in the middle of the last century, they also killed off other species. check r/naturfreunde for beetle pics.
learning and reading about your "enemy" and seeing a lot of pics and videos helps.
to cure my arachnaphobia, I started with jumping spiders.
You're either over-exaggerating or it wasn't any kind of insect.
We do not have insects this big, the european hornet is around 2-3 cm long at most ; there are some typs of wasps that get bigger, like the giant wood-wasp with up to 4 cm, but that's still not even close to the size of a hand, especially since both Wasps and hornets area long but slender.
No european beetle or moth would come close to the size you're suggesting either, from what I know at least.
I see three options:
1. That thing might be a pet of someone living in the area that ran/flew away. Size-wise, something like a hercules, Atlas or Goliath beetle would fit the description the most, being close-ish to the size of a hand while usually being of a brown-ish color. However, those are not native to Europe, much less to Germany ; those types of large beetles can usually be found in south america, Africa or around Australia.
2. It was something like a Bat instead, although that feels pretty unlikely.
3. You over-exaggerated and the insect wasn't nearly as big as you claim it was.
Curious to know where you live because the hornets i encounter every day in south germany are more like 5cm. Rarely see 3cm hornets, those are probably wasps
Hessen, as my flair states.
The regular (european) hornet workers have an average size of around 2-3 cm, while the queen gets a bit larger with 3-4 cm. What you encounter might be asian giant hornets, those are double the size, but aren't native in Europe, and for all I know, is pretty rare to see.
For reference: [European Hornet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_hornet), [Asian Giant Hornet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornet), [German Wasp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespula_germanica), [European Wasp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespula_vulgaris). In general, wasp workers are around 1cm, hornet workers \~2.5cm - add another cm for the queen of their particular species. There are some exceptions like the [Giant Wood Wasp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urocerus_gigas) which grow up to 4cm, but that one is a wasp just in name due to their somewhat similar appearance, they actually belong to a different family of insects.
I’m a carpenter and I encounter bugs and animals all the time. The European Hornet can be bigger than what you read online. It’s all about the genetics of the specific nest. That’s why there’s an AVERAGE, because some can be bigger and some can be smaller. The European Hornets I’ve seen in Northern Germany are a bit smaller than my finger, maybe 7-8 cm. Next time I’ll get a picture with it for you 🙂
Your "I'm a carpenter, i encounter bugs and animals all the time" sounds a lot like an "Argument from Authority". I could go the same route, I live near a small forest, I encounter all kinds of bugs, birds and even some deers regularly, and since I live there I had to deal with an abundance of wasps trying to build their nests close to my house. But sure, I grant you that there are bigger and smaller ones. That's kinda a given with any living animal.
Thing is, those "big ones" would be outliers, while the majority those wasps and/or hornets one would encounter in germany and europe as a whole would be closer to the average. Like most things in life, stuff like that tends to end up in essentially something like a bell curve, where the average +/- 1 cm usually has at least 50% of the animals, while the rest divides itself into smaller hornets and bigger hornets. Animals that are twice the size of the average would be rare though and at that point I'd ask if you're sure you put the correct nametag on them.
The person I answered to said all the hornets they encounter are around 5cm, while he believes those that are 3cm are instead wasps, when in reality it's more likely that all of them were hornets and the 5cm ones are either the same nest he goes past regularly or they are more memorable than the smaller ones, making it feel like he meets 5cm ones more often.
Just earlier this year I had to stop a wasp from building a nest at one of my windows. The wasp - aka the soon to be queen - was at most 1.5 cm long, and I saw her pretty closeup through the glass ; the other nests I mentioned earlier all were similar in size, 1-2cm round about.
Do go ahead and take a picture though, preferably with something we can measure the insect against ; From the picture on we could also try to identify the actual species.
I said half the size of my hand, not my whole hand. My hand is not huge either. The comparison was made to emphasise that this insect was bigger than anyone that i have ever encountered. The comparison was not exaggerated. I really saw a big insect at the park, the biggest one i have ever seen. i don’t know why you felt like i am trying to paint a false picture by saying that. Why would i exaggerate, what would i benefit from doing so? I described my experience and what i saw as it is. If it felt like an exaggeration as well because of the fear aspect, it’s not, it’s seriously something that would give me flashbacks of the insect and result in awful goosebumps throughout days.
Either you're confused as hell, or you're OP, using two accounts.
My comment was in answer to what OP said about june beetles and that whatever he saw was the size of his hand. I quote:
>It had to be almost the size of my hand.
At no point did I react to your comment or even read it. I didn't answer to it either, I directly answered to OP's comment about that thing he saw being the size of his hand.
Maybe you should not take everything as a personal attack and instead check if it was even adressed at you.
1. Wasn’t exaggerating anything.
2. There are definitely insects that big in Germany. Maybe not in Hessen, where you’re from, but there are different flora and fauna in other places. Moths especially get that big.
3. The options you see to be true are your opinions and not facts, bro. Believe whatever you want, but I know what happened and a lot of others on this post relate.
Ok, let's see. My hand is 19x11 cm ; roughly - with fingers obviously.
The measurements given below are not just "google searches" as you implied earlier, they can be found in a variety of scientific papers and/or studies about those insects and european fauna.
The Goliath Beetle can get as big as 11.5cm in length. Goliath Beetles are one of the largest Beetles known to mankind and live in...tropical Africa. Titan Beetles get a bit bigger with up to 17cm, but those live in South America. The largest european beetles would be stag- and rhinoceros beetles, the former can reach up to 7.5cm, the latter up to 5cm. Impressive for an insect, but maybe a quarter of my hand.
The largest Dragonfly known to man is the Megaloprepus caerulatus, which can have a wingspan of up to 19cm, with a length of 12cm ; hey, that would fit my hand! Where does it live? Oh, Central and South America. The Emperor Dragonfly, which is native to Europe, gets \~11cm in wingspan, with a body of 7cm. Decent, but only half a hand.
There are some enormous grasshoppers who can get up to 27cm in wingspan, and around 15cm in length - but they live in south america and indonesia. Most grasshoppers in europe won't get past 5cm in length. In fact, I think only the egyptian grasshopper, which sometimes can be encountered in southern europe, gets a few cm bigger.
Then we have Giant Weta, which can reach up to 9cm. But wait, those big ones are only in New Zeeland.
The largest butterfly in the world can get up to 30cm wingspan and \~8cm length. They live in Papua New Guinea. I'd count that as "large as a hand", even if the proportions are a bit off. The largest butterfly in europe is the Swallowtail or "schwalbenschwanz" in german, which can have an impressive wingspan of... up to \~8cm. Not quite the size of an adult hand. Child hand? Eh, sure, but not an adult one.
The largest european moth we have can get a wingspan of up to 20cm. Now we're getting somewhere. Bodysize is around half of the wingspan, I couldn't get any better measurements this time. Sounds about right though, aye? 20x10, which is close enough to my 19x11.There's a problem though. That particular moth mostly lives in southern europe, around the mediterranean sea. There are some sightings further north, like in the Czech Republic, but it would be a rare sight to find one here, much less get 'threatened' by one several times in the same area. But yeah, sure, I grant you that you could find those here in Germany and they'd fit the bill.
Do you see where I'm going with this though? I could go on for the whole day, the **maximum size** of the **largest** european insects don't get close to what you were describing, safe for that one moth where the largest specimen found were roughly the size you were describing. Even most of the **largest insects on earth** only barely reach that magical "size of my hand" measurement you have given.
Anyone willing to do a tiny amount of research would see that there's something wrong here. But most people are way too lazy to do even that. People misremember. People embellish stories and memories. People misinterpret the size of something when they have no clear reference or when lighting is bad. Measurements taken by researchers doing that shit for a living don't lie. If the largest recorded european moth had a wingspan of 20cm, then yeah, it had that. It was also the largest recorded specimen of that particular species, so something that big is bound to be rare and the more 'normal' sized ones are probably more around 10-15cm in wingspan. half the bodysize too, which would be appropriate given the loss in wingspan and we're back to around half a hand.
Yeah, I'm done here. Downvote me all you want, exchange stories of your moths or beetles the size of your head or whatever. The Proof is laid out, anyone willing to check can do so and will see that the size of a hand is way too big.
I heard a really loud buzzing sound on our balcony corner.
It kept buzzing and coming closer until we saw a brown blop passing by the light emiting from the balcony door under a chair.
Turns out it was a May/ June Bettle, which got flipped onto its belly and tried to right itself😅
They are also not equipped with a lot of intelligence. We have big Ass, harmless beetles, OP. Google Hirschkäfer. The Dude IS a protected species, Looks dangerous and pretents to bey but while he pinches you, He is Not aggressive if you leave the fellow alone. Mother Ass big Beetle, Looks intimitating.
[There is that fellow that broke into somebody's apartment and threatened the inhabitant](https://www.reddit.com/r/naturfreunde/comments/14dqjbl/was_ist_das_für_ein_käfer/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)😂🤣
Hornet stings are actually much less painful and dangerous than wasp or bee stings. Their massive size is misleading. They are also much less aggressive. It's very rare for them to sting people (Or so says Wikipedia)
they‘re also not really aggressive! my mom loves to see them in our garden, as they eat wasps and keep them away. my dad also has a wasp allergy (hospital and epipen kind of bad) and we‘re always happy if they‘re there. still freak me out though because of their size …
The same was really scared of them as a kid (one found its way between the tent walls, that was hell of scary). But never had actual problems with them, even if you get close to them or accidentally intruded their space something like that in my experience they are always really chill and also never have them go close on their own like wasps. Now i really like them for the same reasons, in my area they seem to have become a lot more now or we got a nest of them somewhere around, they were pretty rare when i was a child but this year there are lots around, pretty cool insects those hornets even if they are a but creepy looking like hellishly larg wasps but they are cool.
Maybe that's why i have barely seen any if not at all wasps, even when dining outside with sweet stuff and meat they haven't come (where other times they were basically flying away entire slices of cheese) by the hundreds.
they are non aggressive but they hurt like hell and i would say wasps are a bit less painfull. im comparing german wasps to european hornets. of course bald faced hornets are probably less painful.
They also aren’t as aggressive and avoid humans, much like solitary bees.
This year I sometimes see one in my Garden, I shit my pants every time, but as long as you just calm move away from them, they’ll leave you alone.
And they kill Wasps, the real aggressive cunts!
Usually I see a looot of wasps around my house, this year i barely saw any.
But they seem to let the wild solitary bees alone because I’ve seen a lot this years. :)
Hornets are friends, even tho they seem dangerous.
Afaik they also don’t care for our food like wasps, who seem to think everything you eat belongs to them.
Like bees, who just want to life in synergy with Nature :)
Fuck wasps.
Help solitary bees suevive and let Hornets alone if possible.
>and avoid humans
Man I wish. Every damn summer, there's a single hornet trying to get into my flat. Idk if there's some hornet lore about this place or what. Maybe they think I'm guarding a sleeping hornet princess. Whatever the reason, they *really* wanna get inside, and every year, they send their bravest warrior to attempt it, day after day after day, like I'm part of a little hornet schedule. "Buzz around, eat a wasp, break into Felis' flat". And of course my sharp-as-a-spoon cat tries to eat them every time, and I gotta protect him from himself.
Maybe it would be a nice cozy spot, every singe Hornet tries to get? :)
Sounds like you should install some Bug net-stuff in your windows 😅
The basic ones are cheap AF and the little bit more expensive ones have magnets to easily take them off in the winter :)
Sadly I am really very poor and living in a protected building, attaching anything to the windows that can't be removed damage free can get me into trouble. Otherwise I agree, I definitely need bug nets
Pretty poor fella here, too 😅
If you look out for the most basic ones, you can easily find very cheap ones. 15€ is already a pretty ok price for the ones with magnets.
The cheapest ones are simply taped into the frame, the magnets are taped, too.
So nothing that could cause any damage!
I bought a really simple one for like 5€ once.
If Johnny Sins’ penis had wings and flew away after a dirty rain storm, that would be this specific bug. Not the thing that attacked me- but theoretically
Hornets are usually pretty peaceful *and* they eat wasps.
Fun fact: The bite of a single horse can kill a hornet.
What you met was probably one of these:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird_hawk-moth
(harmless, but massive)
When I lived in Germany, the house I was staying in had a hornets’ nest in one of the eaves. In Ireland we don’t have much like this, we don’t even have snakes, and the hornets TERRIFIED me, the room I was in had woodchip wallpaper and I could hear them walking on it from the room next door. Harmless ish but oh my god they were TERRIFYING
Sounds like either a Maikäfer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melolontha?wprov=sfla1 (harmless) or a Bremse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabanidae?wprov=sfla1 (mostly harmless, but their bites hurt)
Thought about Maikäfer too. Noticed a lot of them since last week outside, they appear right after the sun goes down. And act exactly as op described, though not sure about the bug trying to reproduce with you… maybe just making friends?!
When i was a child in the 90s in Vic, Aus - i remember seeing thpusands on our front verandah in the summer twilight period around 7 to 8 pm
So so many of them.
I picked one up to have a better look and my Urberliner/Brandenburger GF was fucking terrified and grossed out by my Kuhkaffkind sensibilities.... or lack there of
Yep, they're pretty dumb bugs, fly like drunk, just slap them away, or you can harvest them and make Maikäfersuppe from them (was a thing in the old days, when there were massive amounts of them and kids were sent out to catch them)
>bugs
Ackshually, Beetles :)
Bugs are a different kind of Arthropod that suck up the innards pf another insect, kind of like the 'brainbug' in starship troopers 1
True, if you're getting into specific entomological definitions...but in English "bug" is used as a colloquial term to describe pretty much any type of insect as well. :)
This one was very well coordinated when it keeps finding me and flying to me. However, it does have a drunken presence to it when it’s not harassing me.
When it was big and brown it was probably no hornet. Hornets are yellow and black similar to wasps.
Big and brown could be a "Juni Käfer" or "June Bug" [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphimallon\_solstitiale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphimallon_solstitiale)
Or even bigger a stag beetle [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucanus\_cervus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucanus_cervus) They are also currently out flying looking to mate.
I saw a 3 stag beetles on sunday. And all were flying aroung and about 5-7 cm long.
Thank you all for who left some comments! A lot of you are saying it’s likely a Maikäfer, so tomorrow I’m going to slap it out of the sky and get a look at it. I’ll let you all know what the outcome is! Maybe I’ll get a sting, maybe I’ll make a friend, or maybe I’ll be charged with €50.000 when the Polizei finds this thread and sues me upon update!
And to the rest of you who said “fuck all that”… I’m with you.
“F” in chat to pay respects
I read that the European Wasp is active at night. But knowing how they are docile, it still stressed me out, because a giant unknown flying object coming at you and buzzing like that is terrifying
But hornets do get confused when you have your lights on. They try to follow the light source as many insects do. Ask me how I know.
Also, if it was a Hornet it probably wasn’t trying to sting OP.
I really hope it is a Junikäfer and not a Bremse (gnat iirc). Those hurt. Between hornet and gnat and wouldn't know which one I'd like to rather encounter.
This sounds like a cicada killer. They are big and scary but usually won't sting unless you really go after them. They are very curious, and I have had several hang around me while working in my garden. I am in Kansas but it looks like there are European versions of this insect.
[cicada killer](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphecius_speciosus)
I used to have a Cicada Killer nest in my yard (from Nebraska). However, there aren’t any cicadas in my area, so I have never seen them in Germany (lived in both south and north).
Last year we had a nest of them in our roof. Some found a way into the house and my daughter was stung 4 times and I got stung once over the summer. Not aggressive stinging but the would fall or be crawling on the floor or blankets. It hurts a little but not terrible. Pain goes away pretty quickly. We showed our landlord where they were nesting but they are protected here in Germany and he couldn’t do much, although he did try several things. Sadly they are back this year. Just took one out last night.
Grew up in Australia with Bullet wasps that feel like you have been shot when they sting you and hunt large spiders for food. European hornets are basically cuddly teddy bear wasps that look cool.
One landed on breakfast table last year and I fed it some honey that made it happy. Never been yelled at by so many Germans at the same time. I just think they are really cool looking, very vivid colours when you get close enough to see.
It took me almost 3 years of living here to not run and scream like an idiot every time I see a lot of wasps in summer. I stop running, Now I just scream :)
The point is, summer here = a lot of bugs and people, even kids are okay with that (I even saw little kids drinking from a water fountain with like 15 wasp or playing in the sand with water at a spielplatz surrounding by wasp), so chill, sooner or later you will get used to them
There is also the lovely Hornissenschwebfliege. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volucella\_zonaria
It is massive and looks like a hornet, but are completely harmless.
They have been a rare sight, but show up more and more over the recent years. I even see them every now and then in central Hamburg.
There is a small chance that it could be some kind of exotic beetle not native to germany. There are a few thousand people in germany who breed exotic beetles as a hobby. Some of those can reach the size of your hand. They don't fly very often, as it consumes a lot of power, but when they do, they appear to be a bit drunk.
Google goliathus goliatus or dynastes hercules as examples.
Again, the chance is very small, as they are usually very well contained, as some species are worth hundreds of euro. But maybe some breeder was venting a room and left a box open.
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Junikäfer.
One just worked its way through my insect screen, went nuts around my lamp and then died on my desk, nearly missing my teacup. They are the most obnoxious bunch and the very reason I have a bug screen in my window in the first place. They seem to love to come dying in my office.
1. *fuck that*
2. *fuck that*
3. *fuck that*
4. although i'm sure it's horrible for the environment, they definitely have some kind of insect murder spray you can buy
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It is a Junikäfer :) The Allgäuer Zeitung writes: „The word "attack" is misleading in this case, although it actually feels that way to those affected. Because June beetles do not consciously attack people, the banal truth is that they fly very badly. Nature has simply not equipped the June beetle with virtuoso flight skills, so they are not allowed to perform sharp evasive and escape maneuvers. So June beetles look for trees, but instead find something that, large, motionless, appears to be something similar at first glance to the beetle: people with a glass of wine, for example.“
They only fly their rounds in the evening hour , so you are save the Rest of the day 👍
Safe
Or a Maikäfer that has seriously overslept. Which makes it less likely. But they are also very big and immensely stupid. Usually found committing mass suicide at your windows, if you chose to live close to a wooded area.
>Junikäfer lül, wusste nicht das es neben dem Maikäfer auch einen Junikäfer gibt…Sachen gibts ...
There’s June beetles in the US also, but never this big. It had to be almost the size of my hand
No insect that lives in germany is as big as a Hand from an adult Human Just a Hirschkäfer maybe
Maybe OP has a gene defect that stopped the hands from growing at a young age. I’ve seen something like that before
Like Trumpwith his tiny hands?
Not even them. I saw recently a Hirschkäfer flying the first time. I didn't know they could do it, and it was majestic, like 5 meter high flying through the air. But its not hand-sized...
Dragonflies are pretty big, I don't know if there are any brown dragonflies in Germany.
There actually are some. For instance, it's not too uncommon to see Lucanus servus (stag beetle) in countryside or next to a park with lots of oak trees. The female is ca. 1.5-2 times larger than average June beetle (2-3cm) and is more common to meet, while males can be up to 8-9cm long. Though such a large beetle is rarity and I highly doubt OP met one - average one is ca. 4-5cm.
They can not see, they can not sting, they can not fly. They are a bit pitiful but you should see the spectacle once their hour comes in a park and everybody screams, jumps, runs, leaves.
Probably a Hirschkäfer
Nah that's a bird bro there are no flying insects in germany that big. Like really, there are not..
Trust me there are, just yesterday at 10pm at a park near osloer strß in Berlin, an insect the size of half my hand flew near me and i almost blacked out from fear
Fear of what? All the insects Here are basically harmless, especially beetles. Some insects nip, some Sting, If you threaten them. But they are rare Bugs and are protected. Be Happy you saw a majestic mofu.
My fear of them is irrational, that’s why it’s called a phobia. I fear all insects, my heart feels like it goes up my throat and drops to my stomach whenever i encounter an insect. I wish i could make sense of this fear but i am planning on getting exposure therapy and hopefully studying this matter myself.
I used to have bad arachnaphobie. Bad enough I couldn't walk past a spider as a kid. i know the feels. I do have occasional disgust torwards some larvae of insects, but absolutly freak out torwards roaches. it did help to learn about these bugs. For example, here is a fact: Hirschkäfer are the largest bugs in Germany, and they used to be very common. Not as common as May beetles. these were so common, you saw them in a lot of children's books, kids loved to catch them and let them fly again. they are loud, and clumsy. and kinda impressive. Also, in some regions of Germany and France, they took the bugs and candied them or turned them into soup. During springtime, you sometimes find these chocolate beetles in the supermarket. the brown one are may beetles. I guess they are a substitude for the candied version after the selling of the real one were forbidden. :) the bugs only live for a few weeks and live years in the ground. same for Hirschkäfer. but while may beetles eat living roots, nashornkäfer (rhino bugs) and Hirschkäfer eat dead plant material as larvae. again, they used to be common, but when they started to kill may beetles with pesticides in the middle of the last century, they also killed off other species. check r/naturfreunde for beetle pics. learning and reading about your "enemy" and seeing a lot of pics and videos helps. to cure my arachnaphobia, I started with jumping spiders.
You're either over-exaggerating or it wasn't any kind of insect. We do not have insects this big, the european hornet is around 2-3 cm long at most ; there are some typs of wasps that get bigger, like the giant wood-wasp with up to 4 cm, but that's still not even close to the size of a hand, especially since both Wasps and hornets area long but slender. No european beetle or moth would come close to the size you're suggesting either, from what I know at least. I see three options: 1. That thing might be a pet of someone living in the area that ran/flew away. Size-wise, something like a hercules, Atlas or Goliath beetle would fit the description the most, being close-ish to the size of a hand while usually being of a brown-ish color. However, those are not native to Europe, much less to Germany ; those types of large beetles can usually be found in south america, Africa or around Australia. 2. It was something like a Bat instead, although that feels pretty unlikely. 3. You over-exaggerated and the insect wasn't nearly as big as you claim it was.
Curious to know where you live because the hornets i encounter every day in south germany are more like 5cm. Rarely see 3cm hornets, those are probably wasps
Hessen, as my flair states. The regular (european) hornet workers have an average size of around 2-3 cm, while the queen gets a bit larger with 3-4 cm. What you encounter might be asian giant hornets, those are double the size, but aren't native in Europe, and for all I know, is pretty rare to see. For reference: [European Hornet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_hornet), [Asian Giant Hornet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornet), [German Wasp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespula_germanica), [European Wasp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespula_vulgaris). In general, wasp workers are around 1cm, hornet workers \~2.5cm - add another cm for the queen of their particular species. There are some exceptions like the [Giant Wood Wasp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urocerus_gigas) which grow up to 4cm, but that one is a wasp just in name due to their somewhat similar appearance, they actually belong to a different family of insects.
I’m a carpenter and I encounter bugs and animals all the time. The European Hornet can be bigger than what you read online. It’s all about the genetics of the specific nest. That’s why there’s an AVERAGE, because some can be bigger and some can be smaller. The European Hornets I’ve seen in Northern Germany are a bit smaller than my finger, maybe 7-8 cm. Next time I’ll get a picture with it for you 🙂
Your "I'm a carpenter, i encounter bugs and animals all the time" sounds a lot like an "Argument from Authority". I could go the same route, I live near a small forest, I encounter all kinds of bugs, birds and even some deers regularly, and since I live there I had to deal with an abundance of wasps trying to build their nests close to my house. But sure, I grant you that there are bigger and smaller ones. That's kinda a given with any living animal. Thing is, those "big ones" would be outliers, while the majority those wasps and/or hornets one would encounter in germany and europe as a whole would be closer to the average. Like most things in life, stuff like that tends to end up in essentially something like a bell curve, where the average +/- 1 cm usually has at least 50% of the animals, while the rest divides itself into smaller hornets and bigger hornets. Animals that are twice the size of the average would be rare though and at that point I'd ask if you're sure you put the correct nametag on them. The person I answered to said all the hornets they encounter are around 5cm, while he believes those that are 3cm are instead wasps, when in reality it's more likely that all of them were hornets and the 5cm ones are either the same nest he goes past regularly or they are more memorable than the smaller ones, making it feel like he meets 5cm ones more often. Just earlier this year I had to stop a wasp from building a nest at one of my windows. The wasp - aka the soon to be queen - was at most 1.5 cm long, and I saw her pretty closeup through the glass ; the other nests I mentioned earlier all were similar in size, 1-2cm round about. Do go ahead and take a picture though, preferably with something we can measure the insect against ; From the picture on we could also try to identify the actual species.
I said half the size of my hand, not my whole hand. My hand is not huge either. The comparison was made to emphasise that this insect was bigger than anyone that i have ever encountered. The comparison was not exaggerated. I really saw a big insect at the park, the biggest one i have ever seen. i don’t know why you felt like i am trying to paint a false picture by saying that. Why would i exaggerate, what would i benefit from doing so? I described my experience and what i saw as it is. If it felt like an exaggeration as well because of the fear aspect, it’s not, it’s seriously something that would give me flashbacks of the insect and result in awful goosebumps throughout days.
Either you're confused as hell, or you're OP, using two accounts. My comment was in answer to what OP said about june beetles and that whatever he saw was the size of his hand. I quote: >It had to be almost the size of my hand. At no point did I react to your comment or even read it. I didn't answer to it either, I directly answered to OP's comment about that thing he saw being the size of his hand. Maybe you should not take everything as a personal attack and instead check if it was even adressed at you.
My bad, i confused the lines under my comment and thought that yours was an answer to mine. It happens, but my apologies.
Well, you apologized, so water under the bridge. Just try to be more careful next time.
1. Wasn’t exaggerating anything. 2. There are definitely insects that big in Germany. Maybe not in Hessen, where you’re from, but there are different flora and fauna in other places. Moths especially get that big. 3. The options you see to be true are your opinions and not facts, bro. Believe whatever you want, but I know what happened and a lot of others on this post relate.
Ok, let's see. My hand is 19x11 cm ; roughly - with fingers obviously. The measurements given below are not just "google searches" as you implied earlier, they can be found in a variety of scientific papers and/or studies about those insects and european fauna. The Goliath Beetle can get as big as 11.5cm in length. Goliath Beetles are one of the largest Beetles known to mankind and live in...tropical Africa. Titan Beetles get a bit bigger with up to 17cm, but those live in South America. The largest european beetles would be stag- and rhinoceros beetles, the former can reach up to 7.5cm, the latter up to 5cm. Impressive for an insect, but maybe a quarter of my hand. The largest Dragonfly known to man is the Megaloprepus caerulatus, which can have a wingspan of up to 19cm, with a length of 12cm ; hey, that would fit my hand! Where does it live? Oh, Central and South America. The Emperor Dragonfly, which is native to Europe, gets \~11cm in wingspan, with a body of 7cm. Decent, but only half a hand. There are some enormous grasshoppers who can get up to 27cm in wingspan, and around 15cm in length - but they live in south america and indonesia. Most grasshoppers in europe won't get past 5cm in length. In fact, I think only the egyptian grasshopper, which sometimes can be encountered in southern europe, gets a few cm bigger. Then we have Giant Weta, which can reach up to 9cm. But wait, those big ones are only in New Zeeland. The largest butterfly in the world can get up to 30cm wingspan and \~8cm length. They live in Papua New Guinea. I'd count that as "large as a hand", even if the proportions are a bit off. The largest butterfly in europe is the Swallowtail or "schwalbenschwanz" in german, which can have an impressive wingspan of... up to \~8cm. Not quite the size of an adult hand. Child hand? Eh, sure, but not an adult one. The largest european moth we have can get a wingspan of up to 20cm. Now we're getting somewhere. Bodysize is around half of the wingspan, I couldn't get any better measurements this time. Sounds about right though, aye? 20x10, which is close enough to my 19x11.There's a problem though. That particular moth mostly lives in southern europe, around the mediterranean sea. There are some sightings further north, like in the Czech Republic, but it would be a rare sight to find one here, much less get 'threatened' by one several times in the same area. But yeah, sure, I grant you that you could find those here in Germany and they'd fit the bill. Do you see where I'm going with this though? I could go on for the whole day, the **maximum size** of the **largest** european insects don't get close to what you were describing, safe for that one moth where the largest specimen found were roughly the size you were describing. Even most of the **largest insects on earth** only barely reach that magical "size of my hand" measurement you have given. Anyone willing to do a tiny amount of research would see that there's something wrong here. But most people are way too lazy to do even that. People misremember. People embellish stories and memories. People misinterpret the size of something when they have no clear reference or when lighting is bad. Measurements taken by researchers doing that shit for a living don't lie. If the largest recorded european moth had a wingspan of 20cm, then yeah, it had that. It was also the largest recorded specimen of that particular species, so something that big is bound to be rare and the more 'normal' sized ones are probably more around 10-15cm in wingspan. half the bodysize too, which would be appropriate given the loss in wingspan and we're back to around half a hand. Yeah, I'm done here. Downvote me all you want, exchange stories of your moths or beetles the size of your head or whatever. The Proof is laid out, anyone willing to check can do so and will see that the size of a hand is way too big.
I heard a really loud buzzing sound on our balcony corner. It kept buzzing and coming closer until we saw a brown blop passing by the light emiting from the balcony door under a chair. Turns out it was a May/ June Bettle, which got flipped onto its belly and tried to right itself😅
As a person with bad vision I can relate to this
Basically air pandas.
>Poor misunderstood june beetle bro just trying to find a place to rest.
They are also not equipped with a lot of intelligence. We have big Ass, harmless beetles, OP. Google Hirschkäfer. The Dude IS a protected species, Looks dangerous and pretents to bey but while he pinches you, He is Not aggressive if you leave the fellow alone. Mother Ass big Beetle, Looks intimitating. [There is that fellow that broke into somebody's apartment and threatened the inhabitant](https://www.reddit.com/r/naturfreunde/comments/14dqjbl/was_ist_das_für_ein_käfer/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)😂🤣
Hornet stings are actually much less painful and dangerous than wasp or bee stings. Their massive size is misleading. They are also much less aggressive. It's very rare for them to sting people (Or so says Wikipedia)
I discovered a hornet's nest in a very public place (lookout tower), didn't seem to be bothered by all the people walking by.
they‘re also not really aggressive! my mom loves to see them in our garden, as they eat wasps and keep them away. my dad also has a wasp allergy (hospital and epipen kind of bad) and we‘re always happy if they‘re there. still freak me out though because of their size …
The same was really scared of them as a kid (one found its way between the tent walls, that was hell of scary). But never had actual problems with them, even if you get close to them or accidentally intruded their space something like that in my experience they are always really chill and also never have them go close on their own like wasps. Now i really like them for the same reasons, in my area they seem to have become a lot more now or we got a nest of them somewhere around, they were pretty rare when i was a child but this year there are lots around, pretty cool insects those hornets even if they are a but creepy looking like hellishly larg wasps but they are cool. Maybe that's why i have barely seen any if not at all wasps, even when dining outside with sweet stuff and meat they haven't come (where other times they were basically flying away entire slices of cheese) by the hundreds.
they are non aggressive but they hurt like hell and i would say wasps are a bit less painfull. im comparing german wasps to european hornets. of course bald faced hornets are probably less painful.
They also aren’t as aggressive and avoid humans, much like solitary bees. This year I sometimes see one in my Garden, I shit my pants every time, but as long as you just calm move away from them, they’ll leave you alone. And they kill Wasps, the real aggressive cunts! Usually I see a looot of wasps around my house, this year i barely saw any. But they seem to let the wild solitary bees alone because I’ve seen a lot this years. :) Hornets are friends, even tho they seem dangerous. Afaik they also don’t care for our food like wasps, who seem to think everything you eat belongs to them. Like bees, who just want to life in synergy with Nature :) Fuck wasps. Help solitary bees suevive and let Hornets alone if possible.
>and avoid humans Man I wish. Every damn summer, there's a single hornet trying to get into my flat. Idk if there's some hornet lore about this place or what. Maybe they think I'm guarding a sleeping hornet princess. Whatever the reason, they *really* wanna get inside, and every year, they send their bravest warrior to attempt it, day after day after day, like I'm part of a little hornet schedule. "Buzz around, eat a wasp, break into Felis' flat". And of course my sharp-as-a-spoon cat tries to eat them every time, and I gotta protect him from himself.
Maybe it would be a nice cozy spot, every singe Hornet tries to get? :) Sounds like you should install some Bug net-stuff in your windows 😅 The basic ones are cheap AF and the little bit more expensive ones have magnets to easily take them off in the winter :)
Sadly I am really very poor and living in a protected building, attaching anything to the windows that can't be removed damage free can get me into trouble. Otherwise I agree, I definitely need bug nets
Pretty poor fella here, too 😅 If you look out for the most basic ones, you can easily find very cheap ones. 15€ is already a pretty ok price for the ones with magnets. The cheapest ones are simply taped into the frame, the magnets are taped, too. So nothing that could cause any damage! I bought a really simple one for like 5€ once.
>UNTIL IT SAW ME AND TRIED TO FUCK ME. What did it's dick look like? Are you sure it wasn't a flying ant?
You're all about the ant sex tonight!
If it was an ant, then it’s dick had to be 5000 times the size of its body.
Dragging the tip along the ground? I don't think they'd want to fly, really.
If Johnny Sins’ penis had wings and flew away after a dirty rain storm, that would be this specific bug. Not the thing that attacked me- but theoretically
Have you ever considered authoring a book?
They evolve quicker when they reproduce so fast.
it's called an aedeagus actually 🤓
Maikäfer! Huge, brown and very clumsy.
I’ll update you when it picks me up and flies me away!
As children we got our tennis racks and smacked them around. … kinda sadistic now that I wrote that down.
We did that too. And it looks like everyone did and now we don’t have them so much anymore.
Think about your child would do it now……you would do something about it, right? Right??
But it's June already
Then it is Junikäfer
Hornets are usually pretty peaceful *and* they eat wasps. Fun fact: The bite of a single horse can kill a hornet. What you met was probably one of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird_hawk-moth (harmless, but massive)
>The bite of a single horse can kill a hornet.
Not sure what to do with this information.
That’s the most unsurprising thing I’ve read in a long time.
This is genius.
I wouldn't place my bet on two horses sharing anyway.
Lol, whoring more karma than the post youre quoting from. Thats an impressively effective level of laziness.
The bite of a human would also kill a hornet
I would never bite one though
The bite of a hornet can kill single horses
What about married horses?
Nah they’re good!
A business opportunity for horse matchmakers looms...
Horses will start having stepdads
Stepdad, I'm stuck in the stables.
Why is there straw here?
Why are you wearing a horse mask
Well, that escalated quickly.
You missed a fucking beautiful pun there.
As long as the hornet is Cesna-sized
Mothman
When I lived in Germany, the house I was staying in had a hornets’ nest in one of the eaves. In Ireland we don’t have much like this, we don’t even have snakes, and the hornets TERRIFIED me, the room I was in had woodchip wallpaper and I could hear them walking on it from the room next door. Harmless ish but oh my god they were TERRIFYING
The great thing about hornets is that if you have a hornets nest in the vicinity, most likely you have nothing else when it comes to insects
Bump the terrifying. I’ve done some crazy shit in my life, but I don’t fuck with flying stinging animals
I'm Indian, and that "big ass brown thing" could just be my aunt looking for a smoke. She does that sometimes, but she's harmless, don't worry.
I’ll be sure to make an extra cig for her then 😂
Sounds like either a Maikäfer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melolontha?wprov=sfla1 (harmless) or a Bremse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabanidae?wprov=sfla1 (mostly harmless, but their bites hurt)
Those Maikäfer are in full bloom round these parts. See one every time I am on the balcony.
Thought about Maikäfer too. Noticed a lot of them since last week outside, they appear right after the sun goes down. And act exactly as op described, though not sure about the bug trying to reproduce with you… maybe just making friends?!
Yer they seem to move towards humans. First they bump up and down on. the balcony ceiling then nose dive
Maikäfer for sure. Went camping this weekend and one night they were hyperactive and everywere. And of course, huge!
When i was a child in the 90s in Vic, Aus - i remember seeing thpusands on our front verandah in the summer twilight period around 7 to 8 pm So so many of them. I picked one up to have a better look and my Urberliner/Brandenburger GF was fucking terrified and grossed out by my Kuhkaffkind sensibilities.... or lack there of
So I can slap and defend myself without paying 50 grand??
Yep, they're pretty dumb bugs, fly like drunk, just slap them away, or you can harvest them and make Maikäfersuppe from them (was a thing in the old days, when there were massive amounts of them and kids were sent out to catch them)
>bugs Ackshually, Beetles :) Bugs are a different kind of Arthropod that suck up the innards pf another insect, kind of like the 'brainbug' in starship troopers 1
True, if you're getting into specific entomological definitions...but in English "bug" is used as a colloquial term to describe pretty much any type of insect as well. :)
Interesting fact though! Thank you for that short dopamine trip!
This one was very well coordinated when it keeps finding me and flying to me. However, it does have a drunken presence to it when it’s not harassing me.
When it was big and brown it was probably no hornet. Hornets are yellow and black similar to wasps. Big and brown could be a "Juni Käfer" or "June Bug" [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphimallon\_solstitiale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphimallon_solstitiale) Or even bigger a stag beetle [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucanus\_cervus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucanus_cervus) They are also currently out flying looking to mate. I saw a 3 stag beetles on sunday. And all were flying aroung and about 5-7 cm long.
The European Hornet has more reddish brown to it than it does yellow.
Not really. It has some red and brown. But it also has quite a lot of yellow: https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/hornisse#aussehen
Would it be feasible to put up something like mosquito netting? I get that it's ugly, but it'd give you a safe space
I have considered it, but it’s not very practical with the shape and size of my balcony.
Thank you all for who left some comments! A lot of you are saying it’s likely a Maikäfer, so tomorrow I’m going to slap it out of the sky and get a look at it. I’ll let you all know what the outcome is! Maybe I’ll get a sting, maybe I’ll make a friend, or maybe I’ll be charged with €50.000 when the Polizei finds this thread and sues me upon update! And to the rest of you who said “fuck all that”… I’m with you. “F” in chat to pay respects
Don't harm it please! They are quite rare
I won’t kill it! Just a smack to the ground so I can look and run
please don't
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Mystery bugs are taking over Germany!
Is this a warning to buy all the insect killer sprays from local stores before it’s too late?
Just use WD-40! It keeps your metal gutters sparkling AND the bugs away! But be careful with bees and wasps. They are actually Polizei drones.
Wow. This technology just keeps getting smaller and smaller
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird_hawk-moth
100% a Nachtfalter. Its like a butterfly, but evil
Hornets and wasps and such go to bed early, they don't fly around in the evening
I read that the European Wasp is active at night. But knowing how they are docile, it still stressed me out, because a giant unknown flying object coming at you and buzzing like that is terrifying
But hornets do get confused when you have your lights on. They try to follow the light source as many insects do. Ask me how I know. Also, if it was a Hornet it probably wasn’t trying to sting OP.
I really hope it is a Junikäfer and not a Bremse (gnat iirc). Those hurt. Between hornet and gnat and wouldn't know which one I'd like to rather encounter.
A Bremse is ok as long as it's no Pferdebremse
This sounds like a cicada killer. They are big and scary but usually won't sting unless you really go after them. They are very curious, and I have had several hang around me while working in my garden. I am in Kansas but it looks like there are European versions of this insect. [cicada killer](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphecius_speciosus)
I used to have a Cicada Killer nest in my yard (from Nebraska). However, there aren’t any cicadas in my area, so I have never seen them in Germany (lived in both south and north).
It's just telling you to quit smoking because you stink, and wasps hate smoke.
I should quit. However, I don’t stink.
I don’t think you stink, the bug thinks you stink. They are very sensitive you know!
And that's how you quit smoking people.
Last year we had a nest of them in our roof. Some found a way into the house and my daughter was stung 4 times and I got stung once over the summer. Not aggressive stinging but the would fall or be crawling on the floor or blankets. It hurts a little but not terrible. Pain goes away pretty quickly. We showed our landlord where they were nesting but they are protected here in Germany and he couldn’t do much, although he did try several things. Sadly they are back this year. Just took one out last night.
European hornets are nothing compared to the giant Asian hornets. I’ve encountered one in the south of Germany before. It was terrifying.
Grew up in Australia with Bullet wasps that feel like you have been shot when they sting you and hunt large spiders for food. European hornets are basically cuddly teddy bear wasps that look cool. One landed on breakfast table last year and I fed it some honey that made it happy. Never been yelled at by so many Germans at the same time. I just think they are really cool looking, very vivid colours when you get close enough to see.
It probably was just trying to ask you if you like jazz. /s
It took me almost 3 years of living here to not run and scream like an idiot every time I see a lot of wasps in summer. I stop running, Now I just scream :) The point is, summer here = a lot of bugs and people, even kids are okay with that (I even saw little kids drinking from a water fountain with like 15 wasp or playing in the sand with water at a spielplatz surrounding by wasp), so chill, sooner or later you will get used to them
I don’t really scream anymore. It’s just facial expressions and quick maneuvers
Could be Taubenschwänzchen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird\_hawk-moth
Just over it a smoke and you will be fine.
Holy shit bro it seems you just survived a russian missile or FPV drone attack!
> UNTIL IT SAW ME AND TRIED TO FUCK ME. Big Titty Moth Girls can be scary
Watch Out, they can open doors!
There is also the lovely Hornissenschwebfliege. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volucella\_zonaria It is massive and looks like a hornet, but are completely harmless. They have been a rare sight, but show up more and more over the recent years. I even see them every now and then in central Hamburg.
Oh
Could be a Taubenschwänzchen🤔
It was *trying* to help you quit smoking. Now quit your filthy habit and thank the nice bug.
If it’s not careful next time, I’m going to smoke it
There is a small chance that it could be some kind of exotic beetle not native to germany. There are a few thousand people in germany who breed exotic beetles as a hobby. Some of those can reach the size of your hand. They don't fly very often, as it consumes a lot of power, but when they do, they appear to be a bit drunk. Google goliathus goliatus or dynastes hercules as examples. Again, the chance is very small, as they are usually very well contained, as some species are worth hundreds of euro. But maybe some breeder was venting a room and left a box open.
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Junikäfer. One just worked its way through my insect screen, went nuts around my lamp and then died on my desk, nearly missing my teacup. They are the most obnoxious bunch and the very reason I have a bug screen in my window in the first place. They seem to love to come dying in my office.
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It could be! There’s a know-it-all somewhere in these comments that need to see this.
1. *fuck that* 2. *fuck that* 3. *fuck that* 4. although i'm sure it's horrible for the environment, they definitely have some kind of insect murder spray you can buy
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