Omaha residents report seeing murder hornets, expert says not to worry

Omaha residents have reported seeing giant bugs in the metro area recently, worried they could be murder hornets — properly known as Asian Giant Hornets. 6 News’ Lileana Pearson looked into it.

First, the good news — while huge and buzzing around my ankles, these bugs are not murder hornets.

There have been no reports of murder hornets in Nebraska at all.

What you are seeing is a cicada killer wasp. These inch to inch-and-a-half wasps live in the ground and spend the day hunting cicadas.

They live in holes they dig in the ground and are too busy to bother people, so if you see them around they won’t sting you.

What you’re most likely seeing in your yard are the males who are waiting around on the female to come back to the dens.

Nebraska Extension Office Entomologist Jody Green says these insects are native to Nebraska and natural to see around.

“They are native. They’re pretty widespread. We got them all over the east coast and we have seen more and more of them in the last year, but every time a female leaves a bunch of cicadas underground with eggs they’re pretty much going to come back the following year,” she said.