Possible Misidentification of Port Colborne Wasp

There seems to be some confusion about what type of wasp has been spotted in Port Colborne.

On Wednesday, the city of Port Colborne put out a press release along with this picture.

Saying that Japanese hornets were nesting in three city baseball diamonds. Only we’re finding out today that this isn’t a Japanese hornet; it’s a cicada killer and there’s a big difference.

Japanese hornets are capable of stinging multiple times and can cause damage to honey bee colonies.

Cicada killers, on the other hand, are native to the area and are relatively harmless unless you’re a cicada.

Paiero says it’s possible that someone mistook a cicada killer for a European hornet, which does occur in Ontario.

We called the city of Port Colborne to see if they’re going to update their website, but so far, we haven’t heard back.