Fri. Oct 11th, 2024

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Now in case you missed it with all the COVID-19 news, outlets have been swarming the reports about “Murder Honets”.

Although “murder hornets” dominate the recent headlines, according to UC Riverside Entomology Research Museum Senior Scientist Doug Yanega, there are no Asian Giant Hornets currently known to be living in the U.S. or Canada.

Yanega is one of the leading insect-identification experts in the country. He was consulted by beekeepers in Canada when a 2-inch-long hornet colony was discovered in September 2019 in the Canadian town of Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island.

This was North America’s first sighting of the hornet, and the authorities eradicated the nest to prevent its development. According to Yanega, “There were no sightings in 2020 that would suggest the attempted eradication was unsuccessful.” In December 2019, two additional Asian Giant Hornet sightings were reported by a resident on the US side of the border, about 50 miles from Nanaimo in Blaine, Washington. One of these hornets was collected by the Washington State Department of Agriculture, and was dead. The other reportedly flew into a forest nearby.

Neither the live hornet nor its nest has ever been identified, but the insect is impossible to still be alive, Yanega said.

Recent genetic tests confirm that the dead hornet was not genetically related to the Nanaimo nest that was eradicated.

“The fact that the second hornet turned out to be somewhat genetically different raises the odds that more of them could be present,” Yanega said. “Right now, however, all authorities are telling people to keep their eyes peeled in case there were queens who escaped destruction and set up their own nests nearby.” The sighting is alarming, as Asian Giant Hornets can kill honeybee hives and their venom is more toxic to humans than that of a honeybee.

The hornet spotted in December was probably introduced to North America in parallel with those eradicated at Nanaimo. And, if any of them still live, they’d be in the immediate vicinity of Vancouver Island, he said.

There are an estimated 10 million insects, of which fewer than 2 million are “known species.” Yanega can classify about 90 per cent or more of them, both known and unknown, to the rank of family or better.