When insects attack...

[Horrido]

Malhavoc commented on being warded-off of messing around with a dobsonfly for its impressive mandibles, and it made me wonder if anyone had any unusual, negative experiences (other than bee/wasp stings, etc) with insects.

For me, I've been attacked on TWO occasions by white-lined sphinx moths (could have been poplar sphinxes in colored war paint, but I doubt it), both hit-and-runs while in the front yard taking the trash out. I was just walking along, minding my own business, when "WHUMP! THUMP!" I was being battered about the face by a soft, powdery, fluttery thing! The assault lasted several seconds, and then the perpetrator took off, never to be brought to justice (I have an "insects that have annoyed me" section in my collection). I may never recover from the emotional scars.

You?

 

[Malhavoc's]

Well. I was.. ah..erm..hmm..How shall I put it...poking at the shiny japanese beetles that were eating a fig from a tree in the back yard...thinking what a nice play toy they'd make for my cat or such a good food source they'd provide to my whites tree frog when I heard a loud buzzing.. I apperently upset these harlmess looking beetles and before I coudl decide what I wanted to do Four or five of them just darted in any general direction.. that direction accidentedly headed for me who they thumped into below my eye. my lip. and my neck.. and their shells hurt... now the rest.. pin stuck. sticks going through them holding their rotting torso outa the ground as a 'warning to others'' apperently the nearby ants also think their shiskabob..I think this section of my yard also matchs you.. justice zone..

 

[mactans]

Been "bit" by a common housefly - ow! Been "bit" by a horsefly - bigger ow! Also have had those Japanese beetles buzzing around me but basically just annoying. Along with multitudes of winged insect impacts with my person. The rest of my incidences with invertebrates were largely due to me.

 

[Navaros]

There are flies here in the summer that are horrible. I dread the warmer months while out in the woods. I've been SWARMED by them before, it's scary. I'm not sure what they are really called but everyone calls them "green heads." My worst encounter with them was walking home from school with friends. About a minute into the woods we were all covered with the things, running to get out while slapping and punching each other killing the flies. Was a great yet very painful experience. Their bites SUCK. Then just recently this HUGE fly (no idea what kind it was) was buzzing around a light near my house and decided to smack me in the face. Was about the size of a cicada.

 

[calestus]

Dragonflys

When I was younger I'd snag a large fishing net and run around the yard catching the big pretty...harmless....dragonflys....till i picked one up by the head. It drew blood and kept trying to chew on me. It was an unhappy dragonfly. Big katydids have large mandibles as well.

 

[8 leg wonder]

I've been attacked by horse flies so large that when you hit them with a paddle out of mid air they are only stunned and they come back at you for more. Their bite takes chunks from your flesh large enough to leave streams of blood down your arms back and legs

 

[Archangel]

When I was in grade school I used to ride my bike to my friends house down the road. There was this big huge hill that you just flew down faster than you could peddle. And then it happened. I got one right down the throat going 30mph and I had to gag to get it down. From then on it was war. I had a bug cemetary in my yard that I would have a funeral procession with my toy wagon and everything. Then when I was older we caught a cicada (so I can't spell) and put it in a baby food jar with a fire cracker. Wasn't much left. I'm in a kinder and gentler way these days unless it's feeding time for the T's. Then it's fun time again.

 

[ghost_tomb]

when i was a kid i was "attacked" by a common black ground beetle.
All i did was pick it up and gave it a little sqeez and it bite me, i saw the jaws open and then close around my finger i flung it into a wall and never saw it again.

other than that i've had no probs. apart from a wasp nest right outside my bedroom window but they never got me

 

[Fergrim]

Navaros, I hate those greenheads! Like.. crazy aggressive horseflies.. yuck..

 

[carpe scorpio]

I've been attacked by horse flies so large that when you hit them with a paddle out of mid air they are only stunned and they come back at you for more. Their bite takes chunks from your flesh large enough to leave streams of blood down your arms back and legs

I have also been attacked by these very same flies, but in the Cascade mountains.

 

[vespa_bicolor]

I always used to pride myself on never having had any unpleasant encounters with insects, especially unprovoked (not counting mosquitoes and houseflies of course ). That changed a couple of nights ago! I had been asleep for 3 hours already, I think it was around 3:15 a.m. or so when I woke up with a horrible sharp pain on my arm, just on the inside surface of my elbow. Apparently I shouted too. My dad, who was staying with me that night, said he heard me two rooms away! I got up, half-dazed, switched on the lights, and saw a sharp puncture mark, bleeding slightly, and it hurt badly, especially for the first few minutes. I got slightly alarmed, wondering what could have done that. So I flipped the bed around, and on the corner of my pillowcase, I found this damn murderous looking bug. My suspicions were confirmed when I caught it in a deli cup, grabbed my book on Hong Kong insects and identified it as an assassin bug!

I'm still wondering if it was an accident, or did that bug attack on purpose? The species is Triatoma rubrofasciata, also known here as "domestic assassin bug". The bite stayed stiff and painful for quite some time!

 

[maxwellxxv]

here is one for the horror books. When i was a kid we went fishing off this old rail road bridge. it was around dusk or so..well out of the water started coming thousands..and i mean thousands of creepy things. that looked awfully mean! well they were , after years go by,dobsonfly larvea!! i swear on everything holy. that was the scariesst thing that i have ever witnessed!!!.. by the way.. we went screaming all the way home!! went back next day to get our fishing poles!!!

 

[423]

When I was about ten or something and out riding my bike I was brutally attacked by a HUGE hornet, which out of nowhere made a kamikaze crashdive right into my forehead. This lead to an unvoluntary expedition into the mucky waters of a nearby ditch. After I had crawled back up onto the road I found the bastard a couple of yards away walking round in circles, so I pretty much stomped the sh*t out of it.
"revenge is a dish best served cold"

 

[Fergrim]

Like when I was riding in a car, with my arm out the window going maybe 50.. when I felt a huge sharp impact on my arm.. a bumblebee had flown into it and it hurt real bad.. I couldn't find the bee.. until it stung my arm a few moments later!

I stomped the hell out of him too

 

[spidergoddess]

I can recall approaching a humongous winged cockroach with a can of Raid (before I had any pet bugs or spiders). The evil thing looked me in the eye, and then flew into my blouse, down my bra. I'm sure it was the reincarnation of some Dirty Old Man who just wanted to get some feelies and see how fast I could strip.