A GIANT hornet capable of killing humans and wiping out entire beehives was discovered north of Seattle on Wednesday, causing major concerns for authorities.
It was the first sighting of the dangerous "murder hornet" in North America this year.
A resident found the dead hornet on his lawn in Snohomish County on June 4 and reported it immediately to agriculture officials.
Scientists have warned for months that the killer species poses a massive public health threat.
Asian Giant Hornets can use their sharp jaws to tear through human skin, one expert has said.
Read of Murder Hornets live blog for all the latest news and updates…
- Catherina Gioino
HORNETS CAN CHEW THROUGH SKIN
Scientists have warned for months that the killer species poses a massive public health threat.
Asian Giant Hornets can use their sharp jaws to tear through human skin, one expert has said.
Dr. Samuel Ramsey has been "sounding the alarm about this insect for months".
"It is a very large insect. About the size of your thumb. It has these very sharp, large mandibles that are attached to these really big muscles that allow it to chew through a lot of different fabrics," he told WUSA.
"They can chew through skin, and they also have a really long stinger," he described.
Murder Hornets' poisonous venom can destroy human cells and sends signals of constant pain to human nerves.
The deadly insects have been known to kill up to 50 people a year in its native country Japan, Ramsey said.
- Catherina Gioino
MURDER HORNET FOUND IN SEATTLE
A giant hornet capable of killing humans and wiping out entire beehives was discovered north of Seattle on Wednesday, causing major concerns for authorities.
It was the first sighting of the dangerous "murder hornet" in North America this year and has prompted scientists to act quickly to stop the deadly insect getting a foothold on the continent.
This special species of wasp originates from Asia and is capable of knocking out local populations of honeybees that pollinate crops while its sting is known to be fatal to humans.
A resident found the dead hornet on his lawn in Snohomish County on June 4 and reported it immediately to agriculture officials, who say the dried-out pest appeared to be from a previous season.
"The find is perplexing because it is too early for a male to emerge,” said Dr Osama El-Lissy, deputy administrator for the US Department of Agriculture’s quarantine program.
- Catherina Gioino
QUESTIONS REMAIN ON MURDER HORNET ABILITIES
Asian giant hornets, which can grow up to two inches long, are brutal to pollinators, known to decapitate honey bees.
The insects are also known to have killed around 50 people in Asia every year.
Karla Salp of the Washington State Department of Agriculture told the outlet that there are still questions about what the hornets can do.
"[Murder hornets] are basically in the ground or trees over winter, and then they start emerging in the spring," she said.
- Catherina Gioino
WHERE WERE MURDER HORNETS FIRST FOUND IN THE US?
The country's first nest of Asian giant hornets, which was found in Whatcom County in October, was said to be the size of a basketball, and was located in a tree.
However, the first US sighting was also in Washington state back in May.
Washington has now been on high alert for the insects, with scientists and volunteers planning to set up traps to stop the animals from stinging.
"They’re doing everything they can to track them down and wipe them out," Yanega told the Post.
- Catherina Gioino
MURDER HORNETS COULD RETURN TO US THIS SPRING AS QUEEN BEES RISE UP FROM UNDERGROUND AND LAY THOUSANDS OF EGGS
Murder hornets could return to the United States this spring as queen bees start to rise from underground and lay thousands of eggs.
The huge insects could cause issues for Americans this summer, experts told the New York Post.
Doug Yanega, a scientist at the Entomology Research Museum in California who has studied the hornets, told the outlet that the beasts would reemerge when the sun comes out.
"Only the queens survive the winter, and right now, any [hornet] hibernating won’t come out until it’s warm enough to do so, in mid-to-late April.
"At that point, it’s just a queen by herself trying to raise a batch of offspring — and we don’t generally start seeing them until her workers start multiplying in May or June," he said. "The population grows from there."
- Catherina Gioino
HOW DID THE MURDER HORNET GET TO THE US?
Scientists don't know how they ended up in Washington state, but they've been previously seen in Canada.
In the 2021 sighting, a resident found the dead hornet on his lawn near the city of Marysville and reported it.
There is no obvious pathway for how the hornet got to Marysville, officials said.
“The find is perplexing because it is too early for a male to emerge,” said Doctor Osama El-Lissy, deputy administrator for the US Department of Agriculture’s quarantine program.
El-Lissy said the federal agency would work with state officials “to survey the area to verify whether a population exists in Snohomish County.”
Experts believe that they are sometimes transported in international cargo, in some cases deliberately.
The giant hornet was first spotted in the state in December, and scientists believe it started becoming active again in April when queens emerge from hibernation to build nests and form colonies.
- Catherina Gioino
HOW BIG IS A MURDER HORNET?
The murder hornet is over two inches long. They are the world's largest hornets.
The hornet has a body length of 5cm (2 in), a wingspan around 7.5cm (3 in).
The stinger is 6mm (0.24 in) long and injects a large amount of potent venom.
- Catherina Gioino
WHAT IS A MURDER HORNET?
A murder hornet is a massive wasp that kills around 50 people in Asia every year. And now they're in the US.
The giant hornets, native to temperate and tropical climates in East Asia, are 4 centimeters long.
They can fly faster than 20 miles per hour.
The hornet has orange and black stripes that extend down its body like a tiger, and wings like a dragonfly.
The insects also have a large stinger filled with venom that contains a neurotoxin, which is capable of causing both cardiac arrest and anaphylactic shock.
The bugs have a sting that one victim described as "having red-hot thumbtacks being driven into my flesh."
- Katie Balevic
MURDER HORNET NEST WITH 200 QUEENS FOUND
The first “murder hornet” nest found in Washington state had five hundred of the killer insects – with almost 200 queens – living inside of it.
The nest of Asian giant hornets, which was found in Whatcom County in October, was said to be the size of a basketball and was located in a tree.
State agriculture officials said on Tuesday that roughly 500 specimens in “various stages of development” were discovered inside the nest.
Close to 200 queen hornets were found, entomologist Sven-Erik Spichiger said, adding that 76 were “grown virgins, which have the potential to leave, mate and then start their own nests.”
“It really seems we got there just in the nick of time,″ Spichiger told local news outlets.
“There’s no way for us to ever be certain whether we got them all.”
- Katie Balevic
DEAD MURDER HORNET FOUND ON JUNE 4
A dead Asian giant hornet was found north of Seattle on June 4Credit: AP - Katie Balevic
EAST COAST PREPARES FOR HORNET INVASION
Meanwhile, the NYPD's Bee Unit is preparing for a possible Murder Hornet invasion on the East Coast as they prey on honey bees, an endangered population.
The US Department of Agriculture has said that the hornets could still gain foothold in the mainland US, so officials are now scrambling to save the bees.
Many experts have advised people to leave the hornets alone if they spot them.
Hundreds of the species were found in Canada and south of the border in Washington in 2019 and 2020.
- Katie Balevic
HORNETS CAN 'TEAR THROUGH HUMAN SKIN'
Scientists have warned for months that the killer species poses a massive public health threat.
Asian Giant Hornets can use their sharp jaws to tear through human skin, one expert has said.
Dr. Samuel Ramsey has been "sounding the alarm about this insect for months".
"It is a very large insect. About the size of your thumb. It has these very sharp, large mandibles that are attached to these really big muscles that allow it to chew through a lot of different fabrics," he told WUSA.
"They can chew through skin, and they also have a really long stinger," he described.
- Katie Balevic
EXPERTS SAY NEW MURDER HORNET IS UNRELATED TO PREVIOUS YEARS' HORNETS
The dead Asian giant hornet found north of Seattle on June 4 appears to be a new variant of the insect compared to previous types, experts say.
In 2019 and 2020, hornets were found along the Canadian border, the AP reported.
Sven Spichiger, an entomologist with the state Agriculture Department, said the newly found hornets don't have the orange bands on the abdomen that previous years' of the insect.
- Katie Balevic
HORNETS CAN KILL 50 PEOPLE PER YEAR
Murder Hornets' poisonous venom can destroy human cells and sends signals of constant pain to human nerves.
The deadly insects have been known to kill up to 50 people a year in their native country Japan, Ramsey said.
Credit: AP - Katie Balevic
WASHINGTON STATE SCRAMBLING TO CONTAIN WASPS
This special species of wasp originates from Asia and is capable of knocking out local populations of honeybees that pollinate crops while its sting is known to be fatal to humans.
A resident found the dead hornet on his lawn in Snohomish County on June 4 and reported it immediately to agriculture officials, who say the dried-out pest appeared to be from a previous season.
"The find is perplexing because it is too early for a male to emerge,” said Dr Osama El-Lissy, deputy administrator for the US Department of Agriculture’s quarantine program.
Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) entomologists pose with a colony of Asian giant hornets they removed by vacuum from a treeCredit: Reuters
- Katie Balevic
MURDER HORNET FOUND NORTH OF SEATTLE
A giant hornet capable of killing humans and wiping out entire beehives was discovered north of Seattle on Wednesday, causing major concerns for authorities.
It was the first sighting of the dangerous "murder hornet" in North America this year and has prompted scientists to act quickly to stop the deadly insect from getting a foothold on the continent.
- Katie Balevic
MURDER HORNET NEST WITH 200 QUEENS FOUND
The first “murder hornet” nest found in Washington state had five hundred of the killer insects – with almost 200 queens – living inside of it.
The nest of Asian giant hornets, which was found in Whatcom County in October, was said to be the size of a basketball and was located in a tree.
State agriculture officials said on Tuesday that roughly 500 specimens in “various stages of development” were discovered inside the nest.
Close to 200 queen hornets were found, entomologist Sven-Erik Spichiger said, adding that 76 were “grown virgins, which have the potential to leave, mate and then start their own nests.”
“It really seems we got there just in the nick of time,″ Spichiger told local news outlets.
“There’s no way for us to ever be certain whether we got them all.”
- Katie Balevic
HORNETS BITE THE HEADS OFF OF BEES
Hornets bite the heads off of bees as they leave their hives.
One hornet can also eat 50 bees in a day.
- Katie Balevic
HORNETS CAN WREAK HAVOC ON BEE POPULATION
Asian Hornets can give a powerful sting and wreak 'havoc' with the UK's bee population.
The species began to spread through Europe in 2004 after arriving in the south of France inside a freight ship.
They were was spotted in the British Isles on the Channel Island of Jersey in late 2016.
But after years of establishing themselves on Jersey and Guernsey, the battleground shifted last year to Southern England.
This led to calls for a "people's army" to help fight off an impending invasion of killer hornets onto mainland Britain.
Asian hornets are similar to European hornets but they are not native to the UK.
The hornets are able to kill with one sting among people who have an allergy, while they also pose a threat to the environment and native species.
One hornet can also eat 50 bees in a day.
- Katie Balevic
KILLER HORNETS INVADED BRITAIN IN APRIL
Killer Asian hornets invaded British homes in April after having been blown over from France.
The number of queens found on the Channel Islands, seen as the insects’ British Isles’ base, has tripled in just one week.
Experts on Jersey – seen as the frontline in the fight against the deadly insects – said the large increase was caused by the insects “blowing in” from mainland Europe by strong easterly winds.
This has led to fears of a summer-long battle to stop the spread of the insects that could decimate the UK's native bee population.
- Katie Balevic
DEAD MURDER HORNET FOUND ON JUNE 4
- Katie Balevic
EXPERTS SAY THIS IS A NEW SPECIMEN COMPARED TO PREVIOUS MURDER HORNETS
Officials say the latest specimen is unrelated to insects found over the last two years.
“We’ll now be setting traps in the area and encouraging citizen scientists to trap in Snohomish and King counties,” said Sven Spichiger, an entomologist with the state Agriculture Department.
“None of this would have happened without an alert resident taking the time to snap a photo and submit a report.”
- Katie Balevic
EAST COAST PREPARES FOR HORNET INVASION
Meanwhile, the NYPD's Bee Unit is preparing for a possible Murder Hornet invasion on the East Coast as they prey on honey bees, an endangered population.
The US Department of Agriculture has said that the hornets could still gain foothold in the mainland US, so officials are now scrambling to save the bees.
Many experts have advised people to leave the hornets alone if they spot them.
Hundreds of the species were found in Canada and south of the border in Washington in 2019 and 2020.
- Katie Balevic
MURDER HORNETS ARE NEARLY THE SIZE OF A HUMAN THUMB
Credit: AP - Katie Balevic
HORNETS CAN KILL 50 PEOPLE PER YEAR
Murder Hornets' poisonous venom can destroy human cells and sends signals of constant pain to human nerves.
The deadly insects have been known to kill up to 50 people a year in their native country Japan, Ramsey said.
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