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This appalling predatory tactic helps scientists develop a cyber-war strategy by using tiny battery-powered devices to find hornets in their nests where they can be eliminated by pests.
Asian hornets – scientific name Vespa veluntina – have already been declared invasive species of the public enemy after being reported back in Gloucstershire two years ago when a nest was found and destroyed.
Another nest was destroyed in Woolacombe, Devon, last year, while only one hornet was discovered in Lancashire.
Preventing the bee carnage seen in continental Europe has become a pest priority Defra, British researchers first tested their technology by testing electronic radio tagging technology to catch hornets .
Scientists from Exeter University joined the smaller radio tags available – manufactured by the British company Biotrack Ltd – using thin sewing thread in a series of experiments in France and in Jersey.
Once "tagged" with devices weighing only 0.2gm, the researchers were able to trace the hornets up to five nests previously undiscovered [19659002] Peter Kennedy, of the Environment and Sustainability Institute on the Penryn Campus of Exeter University in Cornwall, said: "Our new tracking method offers a very important new tool to combat the spread of this invader, providing an effective way to find nests of hornets in urban, rural and wooded environments. "
Already badaulted by habitat loss, pests and pesticides, the humble bee, as many of them do. other pollinators,
Although smaller than the native British hornet, the Asian intruder with its dark brown body, orange face, yellow-tipped legs and distinct orange-yellow band near the end of his abdomen is a prolific killer of Honey bees.
Very skilled at peddling around the entrances of a hive, a hornet can kill 50 honeybees in a day to feed them and feed its larvae, which leads to warnings.
It is believed that the hornets arrived in France in China in pottery in 2004 and spread rapidly, leaving the authorities of Bordeaux-Aquitaine to admit that the species is different
Target the nests of hornets is the key to prevent them from getting a foothold on British soil.
Professor Juliet Osborne, co-author of the new study and director of the Environment and Sustainability Institute, said, "It is vital to find nests early in the season to prevent the spread of the hornet because more late in the year, hundreds of new queens emerge and disperse from each nest, each with the potential to make new nests.
Tagging research is funded as part of the government's efforts to prepare for future outbreaks of Asian hornets in the UK and Nicola Spence, Deputy Director of Defra for Plant and Bee Health, welcomed the results.
She said, "This work is essential to ensure a rapid response to Asian hornets when observations are confirmed, and in the future, bee inspectors will be able to use this technique to act quickly."
Research – Research for nests of the invasive Asian hornet (Vespa velutina) using radio telemetry – was published today in the journal Communications Biology.
Any suspected sighting of an Asian hornet should be reported, ideally with a photo, by email to [email protected] or using the Asian Hornet Watch application.
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