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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday May 03 2020, @03:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the appropriately-named dept.

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.


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  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 03 2020, @08:00PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 03 2020, @08:00PM (#989883)

    You have to social distance and shelter at home until the vaccine is available (or you starve).

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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday May 03 2020, @08:30PM

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday May 03 2020, @08:30PM (#989891) Homepage

    I dont know why you two were modded down, I can already read the headlines and hear the interviews, when American media finally gets ahold of this:

    ...It's mandibles can cut off a finger!
    ...The stinger's the size of a nail, and is known for impaling beekeepers! Rips right through those bee-suits like a hot knife through butter!
    ...Venom from one sting can kill small people and put large ones in a coma instantly! You will drop on the spot!
    ...If you see a nest, it's already too late! You will be murdered and then eaten by hundreds! Bones are all that will be left of you!
    ...Their buzzing sounds like a formation of Chinook helicopters!
    ...They were born angrier than Black men, look at the anger in those onery faces! Their frowns will be the last thing you see before you die!