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What type of flying insect is this?

Safeway

Safeway

Lifer
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There are a billion of them flying around outside my condo -- fighting. The are attacking each other in midair. There is one that has been defending a bush for about an hour, and his killed several others.

And as a disclaimer, the sliding patio door is dirty, I know. We are remodeling right now and doing drywall work. As soon as that is over with, we shall clean.

Edit: I named the images, not sure what they actually are.
 
Originally posted by: Safeway
Originally posted by: MrPickins
Originally posted by: Safeway
So many people commented on my fail linking -- now comment on my images.
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Too fuzzy. :|
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Are you joking? They are clear enough to determine what type of insect it is!
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I was being a bit facetious in my delivery, but I still couldn't identify the bug from those pics (other than to say that it is some sort of wasp, which you already seem to know...).

How about some size reference?
 
Roughly how large are these insects. There's no sense of scale in these images. They could be 2 inches across or 2 feet.
 
Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Originally posted by: zinfamous
who's gonna say it first?
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Nuke from orbit? 😛
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well, i was thinking more along the lines of "fail at linking; what pics?" etc; but since you guys beat me to that while I was typing, let's go with the nuke from orbit sentiment.
 
Originally posted by: Locut0s
Possibly Sphecius speciosus?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_cicada_killer
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That looks like it could be it.

The males are more often seen in groups, vigorously challenging one another for position on the breeding aggregation from which they emerged, and generally pursuing anything that moves or flies within close proximity. It is not unusual to see two or three male wasps locked together in midair combat, the aggregate adopting an erratic and uncontrolled flight path until one of the wasps breaks away.
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I know these are native to TX.
 
And this fits, too:

Although they appear to attack anything which moves near their territories, male cicada killers are actually investigating anything which might be a female cicada killer ready to mate. Such close inspection appears to many people to be an attack.
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And now that you mention it, I heard someone say, "Yea, I saw one dragging a cicada into a hole in the ground."

I guess I should have remembered that first.
 
Originally posted by: Safeway
And now that you mention it, I heard someone say, "Yea, I saw one dragging a cicada into a hole in the ground."

I guess I should have remembered that first.
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I just types in "Texas wasps" since you live in Austin then went through the various wasp species at the first site.
 
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