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An invasive hornet that hunts honeybees is spotted in the U.S. for the first time

  

Category:  Environment/Climate

Via:  hallux  •  last year  •  32 comments

By:   Bill Chappell - NPR

An invasive hornet that hunts honeybees is spotted in the U.S. for the first time

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T


Agriculture officials are raising the alarm after an invasive yellow-legged hornet was seen near Savannah, Ga. The insects are devastatingly effective at preying on honeybees and other pollinators.

"This is the first time a live specimen of this species has been detected in the open United States," the   Georgia Department of Agriculture said , after confirming the insect's presence with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Georgia.

The yellow-legged hornet,   Vespa velutina,   is native to Southeast Asia. It's a close cousin of the northern giant hornet,   Vespa mandarinia , also known as the Asian giant hornet — or, more frighteningly, "murder hornet," for the deadly and violent havoc it wreaks on bee colonies.

The hornet is a threat to honey producers and farmers


The yellow-legged hornet poses a threat not only to honey producers but also to the farming industry. Honey bees play important roles in producing a number of crops, such as almonds, cherries, oranges and other fruits.

Noting agriculture's importance as Georgia's largest industry, the state agency says, "it is imperative that these invasive pests are tracked and eradicated."

Bee pollination adds some $15 billion to crops' value, the   Food and Drug Administration   said in 2018.

"About one-third of the food eaten by Americans comes from crops pollinated by honey bees, including apples, melons, cranberries, pumpkins, squash, broccoli, and almonds," the agency said.

The Georgia agriculture agency says it's working with the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the University of Georgia to trap, track and eradicate the new threat to pollinators.

The newly spotted hornet can be identified by its yellow-tipped legs and dark abdomen, which has yellow bands that widen toward the insect's rear. Georgia officials are asking the public to   report possible sightings .

These are not the wasps you're looking for


"Vespa   are known as the 'true hornets' and are exceptional predators," according to Clemson University's   Land-Grant Press , referring to the genus that includes both the yellow-legged hornet and the northern giant hornet.

They're distinct from North America's wasps. While common U.S. insects such as yellowjackets and the bald-faced hornet are sometimes called hornets, they're not in the same genus as the Asian hornets. Crucially, those homegrown bugs don't wage gruesome warfare on bee colonies.

"This species happens to prefer honey bees,"  experts from the University of Florida's extension service  said of yellow-legged hornets.

The two invasive hornet species pose a number of problems for bees, particularly North American and European populations that haven't evolved alongside the predators. They're bigger and stronger than honey bees, and they have a thick exoskeleton that protects them from stings. They're also social insects, with their own nests — and when they find a food source like a bee hive, they use pheromones to call other hornets to join the feast.

"Most hornets prey on other insects' larvae, and many species of hornets target nests of other social bees and wasps," the Land-Grant Press says, adding that after killing the worker bees defending a hive, the hornets move on to collect bee larvae.


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Hallux
Professor Principal
1  seeder  Hallux    last year

Poor Georgia, first came Trump's horde of invasive apparatchiks and now these fellas.

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
1.1  Greg Jones  replied to  Hallux @1    last year

Oh, my! 

Another day, another sick joke from our northern neighbor.

 
 
 
Hallux
Professor Principal
1.1.1  seeder  Hallux  replied to  Greg Jones @1.1    last year

My apologies, I have been lead astray into thinking my southern cousins had thicker skin.

 
 
 
Ed-NavDoc
Professor Quiet
1.1.2  Ed-NavDoc  replied to  Hallux @1.1.1    last year

No, just better class./s

 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
1.1.3  Tessylo  replied to  Hallux @1.1.1    last year

Most gqp/republicans/CONServatives have WLB syndrome.

 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
1.1.4  Tessylo  replied to  Hallux @1.1.1    last year

The former 'president' supporters/enablers/defendersoftheindefensible suffer from the WLB syndrome

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
1.2  devangelical  replied to  Hallux @1    last year
Trump's horde of invasive apparatchiks

what's the latin translation for turd polishers?

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.2.1  Texan1211  replied to  devangelical @1.2    last year

Bidenista?

 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
1.3  Tessylo  replied to  Hallux @1    last year

I'm scared to death of stinging insects, especially wasps and hornets.

As a gal I used to work with said, and I agree wholeheartedly 'they rule the world'

I wouldn't smoke on my deck (quit in 2018) in the summer because of them, there was no way to escape them and I could see myself plummeting off my deck three floors below because of my fear of them!

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
1.3.1  Trout Giggles  replied to  Tessylo @1.3    last year

The only thing I truly detest is scorpions. That's the only thing with a stinger that I will run from or if I'm cornered smash it to a pulp

 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
1.3.2  Tessylo  replied to  Trout Giggles @1.3.1    last year

Recently there was a hornet or a wasp IN MY HOUSE between the curtain and the window and I smashed that mo fo to a pulp.

If they're in my home, it's them or me.

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
1.3.3  devangelical  replied to  Tessylo @1.3    last year

it was always fun to wake up to blood curdling screams whenever an insect invaded our home when I was married, or when my sons explored the popular myth of the only way to kill a black widow was to douse it in gasoline and ignite it in my window wells...

 
 
 
Hallux
Professor Principal
1.3.4  seeder  Hallux  replied to  devangelical @1.3.3    last year
it was always fun to wake up to blood curdling screams

Unlike the time my X sat down on the toilet and a rat tried to crawl to safety between her legs.

 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
1.3.5  Tessylo  replied to  devangelical @1.3.3    last year

Other than the fear of wasps and hornets, I like to think I'm a pretty tough chick.

I can just hear your ex now.

lol

 
 
 
cjcold
Professor Quiet
1.4  cjcold  replied to  Hallux @1    last year

Experienced colony collapse a few years ago. Replaced everything and it happened again. 

Thinking Varroa mites or farmer spread neonicotinoids. Sadly, gave up apiculture. 

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
1.5  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  Hallux @1    last year

My father once owned a Hudson Hornet.  It was a honey of a car. 

898e293618c6941b046224489fbd9563.jpg

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
2  Trout Giggles    last year

This is awful

 
 
 
Ed-NavDoc
Professor Quiet
2.1  Ed-NavDoc  replied to  Trout Giggles @2    last year

The humor or the wasps?

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
2.1.1  Trout Giggles  replied to  Ed-NavDoc @2.1    last year

the wasps

I like to pretend I have a sense of humor

 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
2.1.2  Tessylo  replied to  Trout Giggles @2.1.1    last year

The humor though I agree that the infestation of the wasps is horrible.

 
 
 
cjcold
Professor Quiet
2.1.3  cjcold  replied to  Trout Giggles @2.1.1    last year

Aa sense of humor is the only thing that keeps me from going postal.

 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
2.1.4  Tessylo  replied to  Tessylo @2.1.2    last year

I take that back - Hallux is hilarious - I was thinking about Greg - he's hilarious though in a different way, LOL.

 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
2.1.5  Tessylo  replied to  cjcold @2.1.3    last year

Same here cj - I'd rather laugh than cry.

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
2.1.6  devangelical  replied to  cjcold @2.1.3    last year

... and weed, otherwise my picture would be in every post office.

 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
2.1.7  Tessylo  replied to  devangelical @2.1.6    last year

that too - I'm going to go to a local dispensary for the first time tomorrow - legal as of July 1st

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
2.1.8  devangelical  replied to  Tessylo @2.1.7    last year

the first time I ever went inside one, it was like stepping inside a high school fantasy...

 
 
 
Gsquared
Professor Principal
3  Gsquared    last year

Other invasive species --

  800

 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
3.1  Tessylo  replied to  Gsquared @3    last year

jrSmiley_86_smiley_image.gif

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
4  Buzz of the Orient    last year

President Biden has just declared the hornets to be a threat to America's national security and has banned them.  He is forming a "QUAD" group with the Bahamas, Monaco and Liechtenstein to "contain" them and is threatening both Canada and Mexico to not let the hornets enter their space or he will sanction them.  s/

 
 
 
Ed-NavDoc
Professor Quiet
4.1  Ed-NavDoc  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @4    last year

Did he say if he would send a F-22 Raptor and shoot them down with Sidewinder missiles like he did that balloon?

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
4.1.1  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  Ed-NavDoc @4.1    last year

Yes, when he thought they would spy on the USA and transmit secrets up to a satellite. s/

 
 
 
Ed-NavDoc
Professor Quiet
4.1.2  Ed-NavDoc  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @4.1.1    last year

Lol!😆

 
 

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