European Hornet Control in New Braunfels, TX
If you live in New Braunfels and just saw a big brown-and-yellow wasp, maybe one bumping a lit window after dark, it is very unlikely to be a European hornet. None of the extension and research sources we rely on documents that species in Texas. Your first move is to get a clear photo from a few steps back, check it against the list of local suspects further down, and call or text (210) 281-1064 or book online if there is a nest near the house.
Has anyone found European hornets in Texas? #
Not in any source we could check. Texas A&M AgriLife says the baldfaced hornet is the only "hornet" reported in Texas, and TAIS agrees. The European hornet, Vespa crabro, is an import that has spread west from the East Coast over many decades. NC State Extension says it has reached Louisiana and the Dakotas, while Penn State dates its first Arkansas report to 1999 (Penn State Extension).
A 2025 peer-reviewed paper by D.E. Bowles reviewed records west of the Mississippi River. The bulk of them were Ozark records (Arkansas, Missouri) plus eastern Oklahoma; a few states had one specimen apiece. Texas had none. Bowles points to the species' upper lethal temperature, 44 °C, as a possible brake on it across the southern and southwestern states (Bowles 2025).
Two counties, one answer #
New Braunfels straddles a county line. Of the city's estimated 116,477 residents in July 2024, the Census Bureau places 90,221 in Comal County and 26,256 in Guadalupe County (Census estimates). Neighbors on either side of that line sometimes compare notes about insects, and the honest answer is the same for both: no record we found puts a European hornet in either county. The same goes for the rest of the state.
With that many people outdoors, plenty of big wasps get photographed, and a sharp picture settles most questions quickly.
What you most likely saw instead #
- A summer digger in the lawn: almost certainly a cicada killer. B-6118 gives it a reddish head and thorax, a black rear end striped with yellow, amber wings and a length of up to 1 1/2 inches. Males have no stinger and females seldom use theirs. See cicada killer control in New Braunfels.
- One huge orange wasp near a hole in the ground: likely a southern yellowjacket queen, which towers over her half-inch workers. See yellowjacket control in New Braunfels.
- A rusty wasp on an open comb under the eave: a red paper wasp, roughly an inch long.
- Black-and-white wasps at a gray paper ball in a tree: the baldfaced hornet, the one hornet AgriLife reports in Texas.
- A big hornet-colored insect with a thick, straight body: possibly a pigeon horntail, which has no waist and no sting.
For comparison, Penn State describes European hornet workers as up to an inch long, with a reddish head and thorax and a mostly yellow rear abdomen. NC State calls them brown with wide yellow markings. Both mention night flying and an attraction to lights, which is why the name comes up whenever something large thumps against a window after dark.
What to do, and what to skip #
- Do photograph the insect from a few feet away, or snap one that has died on a windowsill.
- Do note where it went: into the ground, into a tree, into a gap in the wall.
- Don't block a hole in the siding while wasps still use it. Shut-in colonies can work their way into the living space, a warning Penn State and AgriLife both give.
- Don't treat any wasp nest yourself if you have a heart condition or a venom allergy. AgriLife advises against it.
How Pest Trappers helps in New Braunfels #
Most calls about "European hornets" turn out to be a question of identification, and that is where a visit starts. A technician studies your photo or the insect itself, tracks down any nest, and explains whether it needs treatment at all. A cicada killer in the lawn often doesn't; a yellowjacket colony in a wall usually does. Any treatment follows the product label, and you get a price after the inspection. Pest Trappers LLC (TPCL #0887549) is family-owned and licensed by the Texas Department of Agriculture. The office confirms your visit time. Our European hornet guide and New Braunfels service page have more.