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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: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 03 2020, @06:03PM (2 children)
This article states the same hornet exists in Japan. This is incorrect. The naming of these insects is very very confusing.
The "Asian Giant Hornet", despite its common name, does not exist anywhere in Japan. Japan has an even bigger, even more dangerous, venemous hornet, with the common name "Japanese Giant Hornet". It kills on average 45 people per year in Japan, mostly mountain hikers and forestry workers in rural areas. It is the most venemous hornet in the world, with the most toxic venom of any hornet. Adult insects of the species Vespa mandarina japonica have body lengths up to 2.4 inches (6cm) and stingers of 0.26 inch (7mm) that easily penetrate the thickness of professional beekeepers' protection suits, jeans, jackets, summer wetsuits, normal gloves.
I once met a wise, elderly forestry worker in Japan. He gave me the following advice. If you are in a rural area in Japan and you hear a loud, low-frequency sound of something like a helicopter approaching you, do not take any chances. assume it is a Japanese Giant Hornet which is angry with you and may call its co-worker hornets to attack you.
Plan your escape as follows:
1) immediately run away as fast as you can, do not try to collect any belongings or take anybody else,
2) try to make as little sound as possible
3) do not wave your arms or hands about or your clothing,
4) do not shout for help or raise your voice,
5) as quickly as you can, try to seek refuge inside a solid sealable structure such as a vehicle or a building,
6) otherwise try to find a lake or river and stay completely underwater for at least 1 minute and try to move away while underwater so you can emerge from the water in a different place as far away as you can.
7) otherwise, pray
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespa_mandarinia_japonica [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornet [wikipedia.org]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 03 2020, @06:09PM
I vote we let the Africanized honey bees and the giant Asian hornets duke it out for most highest pitched dogwhistle before we die of China viruses made in China labs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 03 2020, @08:35PM
Yet, they use the exact same picture in the wiki articles.