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When Washington state scientists destroyed the first nest of so-called killer hornets found in the United States, they discovered about 500 live specimens in various stages of development, authorities said Wednesday (New Zealand time).
Among them were nearly 200 queens that had the potential to start their own nests, said Sven-Erik Spichiger, an entomologist leading the fight to kill hornets.
Elaine Thompson / AP
Sven Spichiger, managing entomologist for the Washington State Department of Agriculture, shows a boat of Asian giant hornets taken from a nest in a tree behind him in Blaine, Washington.
“We arrived just in time,” he said.
Still, that didn’t put an end to the threat of giant insects that can sting people painful, though rarely fatal, and kill entire hives of honey bees.
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Scientists believe other nests already exist and say it is impossible to know if any queen escaped before the first nest was destroyed.
Asian giant hornets, an invasive pest that is not native to the US, are the world’s largest hornet at 2 inches (5 centimeters) long and a predator of other insects, including honey bees that pollinate many of crops in the billions of people in Washington. dollar agricultural industry.
Despite their moniker and the hype that has sparked fears in an already bleak year, hornets kill at most a few dozen people a year in Asian countries, and experts say that is probably far less.
By comparison, hornets, wasps, and bees typically found in the United States kill an average of 62 people a year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Elaine Thompson / AP
A Washington State Department of Agriculture worker holds two of the dozen Asian giant hornets removed from a tree in Blaine, Washington.
The first killer wasp 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 caught several wasps and flossed radio trackers.
Internal investigators found:
- 190 total larvae that developed from eggs.
- 108 pupae, the next stage after the larvae. Most of them were queens.
- 112 workers, which included 85 workers previously sucked out of the nest.
- 76 queens, almost all new virgin queens. New queens emerge from the nest, mate, and then leave 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 catching hornets for at least three more years to determine if the area is free of them.
The first Asian giant hornet was found in the state a year ago and the first was caught in July. Several more were later captured in Whatcom County. Killer hornets have also been found in British Columbia, Canada.
Spichiger said it’s impossible to determine how the hornets got to the area, but the goal is to eliminate them before they become established and spread.
