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When scientists in Washington state destroyed the first nest of so-called murderous hornets found in the United States, they found around 500 living specimens in different stages of development, officials said on Tuesday.
Among them, nearly 200 queens had the potential to create their own nests, said Sven-Erik Spichiger, an entomologist leading the fight to kill hornets.
“We arrived just on time,” he said.
Yet that hasn’t ended the threat of giant insects that can inflict painful, though rarely fatal, stings on people and wipe out entire honey bee hives.
Scientists believe other nests already exist and say it’s impossible to know if any queens escaped until the first nest was destroyed.
Asian giant hornets, an invasive pest that is not native to the United States, are the world’s largest hornet at 2 inches (5 cm) long, and a predator of other insects, including bees that pollinate many crops of multi-billion dollar agriculture in Washington. industry.
Despite their nickname and the hype that has fueled fears in an already bleak year, hornets kill at most a few dozen people a year in Asian countries, and experts say it’s probably a lot less. By comparison, the hornets, wasps and bees that are typically found in the United States kill an average of 62 people per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The first deadly hornet’s nest – found in a tree and destroyed in late October in Whatcom County, along the Canadian border – was about the size of a basketball. It was located after state scientists trapped several hornets and attached radio trackers to some of them using dental floss.
Inside, the researchers found:
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190 larvae in total which developed from eggs.
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108 pupae, the next step after the larvae. They were almost all queens.
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112 workers, including 85 workers previously sucked out of the nest.
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76 queens, almost all virgins. New queens emerge from the nest, mate, then set off to find a place to overwinter and then start a new colony.
Most of the specimens were still alive when the nest was opened, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture, which plans to continue trapping the hornets for at least three more years to determine if the area is. exempt.
The first Asian giant hornet was found in the state a year ago and the first was trapped in July. Several more were later captured in Whatcom County. Deadly hornets have also been found in British Columbia, Canada.
Spichiger said it was impossible to determine how the hornets got to the area, but the goal was to annihilate them before they established and spread.
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