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Tracking the 'Murder Hornet': A Deadly Pest Has Reached North America:
In his decades of beekeeping, Ted McFall had never seen anything like it.
As he pulled his truck up to check on a group of hives near Custer, Wash., in November, he could spot from the window a mess of bee carcasses on the ground. As he looked closer, he saw a pile of dead members of the colony in front of a hive and more carnage inside — thousands and thousands of bees with their heads torn from their bodies and no sign of a culprit.
"I couldn't wrap my head around what could have done that," Mr. McFall said.
Only later did he come to suspect that the killer was what some researchers simply call the "murder hornet."
With queens that can grow to two inches long, Asian giant hornets can use mandibles shaped like spiked shark fins to wipe out a honeybee hive in a matter of hours, decapitating the bees and flying away with the thoraxes to feed their young. For larger targets, the hornet's potent venom and stinger — long enough to puncture a beekeeping suit — make for an excruciating combination that victims have likened to hot metal driving into their skin.
In Japan, the hornets kill up to 50 people a year. Now, for the first time, they have arrived in the United States.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by linkdude64 on Sunday May 03 2020, @10:35PM (3 children)
The bees don't need anything else working against them. Maybe the solution could be meshes that are large enough for bees to fit through, but just small enough so that the hornets can't? I can't imagine another defense.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 04 2020, @02:04AM (1 child)
Can't imagine another defense? Lasers man, lasers!
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 04 2020, @02:07AM
Me again. I remembered correctly:
https://hackaday.io/project/161581-ai-equiped-wasp-and-asian-hornet-sentry-gun [hackaday.io]
(Score: 3, Informative) by Webweasel on Monday May 04 2020, @10:48AM
That's possible. Bee Keepers already use a system in the hives to keep the queen in certain parts.
The bottom part of a hive is a brood chamber, for producing new bees.
The top half is called the Super. It's where the honey is stored.
A mesh is used to separate the layers large enough to allow the normal bees through, but too narrow to allow the queen through.
All so you don't get bee larvae in your honey!
Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956