As if we didnt have enough to worry about in the US today, these originated in Japan...

https://www.livescience.com/murder-hornets-in-washington-state.html

 

How the heck did they get there? Does anyone know?

kv

Edit: Of course cargo ships.

 

I wonder if they really are Asian hornets? A few years ago while cutting trees down for fire wood one of them was hollow and ended up having a hornets nest in it. Got stung several times while running away. The stings were on my face and hurt, but what was really weird was the lump or cyst in the skin. A week later the cyst broke and the poison came out into the skin. My whole face swelled so much I couldn't see,

These hornets were the biggest I ever saw, over 1 1/4 inch long. They were called European Hornets I found out, never saw one before and never want to again. Image from the web

 

I wonder if they really are Asian hornets? A few years ago while cutting trees down for fire wood one of them was hollow and ended up having a hornets nest in it. Got stung several times while running away. The stings were on my face and hurt, but what was really weird was the lump or cyst in the skin. A week later the cyst broke and the poison came out into the skin. My whole face swelled so much I couldn't see,

These hornets were the biggest I ever saw, over 1 1/4 inch long. They were called European Hornets I found out, never saw one before and never want to again. Image from the web
View attachment 206316

Wow that's nuts. Yeah they look big too.
It could be the behavior is different than the Japanese strain. The Eu ones can be killed by a swarm of Eu honey bees the Japan ones cant (i think).

 

I read that European bees will form a swarm/ball around them, then by beating their wings create enough heat to cook the invader. Apparently the exoskeleton is too tough for a honey bee's stinger to penetrate. The source I read over over the weekend indicated that was a learned behavior.

This is not the same source but proposes the same mechanism:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ens.12248

 

Killer Bees... Murder Hornets... What's next-- winged crocodiles?

2020 is sure turning out to be a great year!

 

Apparently the exoskeleton is too tough for a honey bee's stinger to penetrate.

The hornet can sting more than once and it doesn't die after stinging like a honey bee.

 

The hornet can sting more than once and it doesn't die after stinging like a honey bee.

Yeah and it takes a lot to scare me with things like this (animals) but that sounds really really really bad. They will have to find a way to get rid of them like they were (or maybe still are) trying to get rid of the bees from Brazil that invaded a while back.

 

Killer Bees... Murder Hornets... What's next-- winged crocodiles?

2020 is sure turning out to be a great year!

Yeah and it is kind of ironic that 20/20 is perfect eyesight. Are we getting a perfect view of what is to come.

 

I read that European bees will form a swarm/ball around them, then by beating their wings create enough heat to cook the invader. Apparently the exoskeleton is too tough for a honey bee's stinger to penetrate. The source I read over over the weekend indicated that was a learned behavior.

This is not the same source but proposes the same mechanism:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ens.12248

Yeah but i dont think that works with the Japan strain too does it? Or maybe it is just one type of bee that can not do it but other types of bees can.

 

Before I moved to Florida I was apprehensive about fire ants. After seeing an aluminum casting of where they live -- not so much.

 

My understanding is that the Asian honeybees have learned how to surround the Asian Giant Hornets to kill them, and the European Honeybees, which are common in the US, just try to sting them, which doesn't work.
If those hornets become established here, we may need to import the Asian Honeybees for the beekeepers.

 

The title of the link I posted seems to say European honeybees use that defense:

European honeybee defense against Japanese yellow hornet using heat generation by bee‐balling behavior

I would feel safer just importing educated European honeybees.

 

The title of the link I posted seems to say European honeybees use that defense:

European honeybee defense against Japanese yellow hornet using heat generation by bee‐balling behavior

I would feel safer just importing educated European honeybees.

Is the Yellow Hornet the same as the Giant type?

 

Is the Yellow Hornet the same as the Giant type?

Perhaps that question is better put to @crutschow. A dead hornet is a dead hornet either way.

What I think is silly is importing a new variety of honeybee into our ecosystem when insecticides can be used. Haven't you seen the devastation caused by the Asian Emerald Ash Borer because the USDA refused to use/or allow the use of an effective insecticide early on in Detroit?

 

Hello,

There seem to be several:

Notable species

• Asian giant hornet Vespa mandarinia
• Asian predatory wasp Vespa velutina
• Black-bellied hornet Vespa basalis
• Black shield wasp Vespa bicolor
• European hornet Vespa crabro, (sometimes known as Old World Hornet, or Brown Hornet).
• Greater banded hornet Vespa tropica
• Japanese hornet Vespa simillima (sometimes known as Japanese yellow hornet).
• Lesser banded hornet Vespa affinis
• Oriental hornet Vespa orientalis
• Vespa luctuosa the most lethal wasp venom (per volume).[7]
• Black hornet Vespa dybowskii

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornet

Bertus

 

Perhaps that question is better put to @crutschow. A dead hornet is a dead hornet either way.

What I think is silly is importing a new variety of honeybee into our ecosystem when insecticides can be used. Haven't you seen the devastation caused by the Asian Emerald Ash Borer because the USDA refused to use/or allow the use of an effective insecticide early on in Detroit?

I am not sure what you are saying because there are different species and they have different behaviors. You have to know the exact type of animals to know what they are capable of.

 

They will have to find a way to get rid of them

If you mean the European hornets I don't think that will happen - "It is also the only true hornet (genus Vespa) found in North America, having been introduced by European settlers in the 1800s " From - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_hornet

 

Locate and eradicate, use microwave energy kill the queen kill the hive.

Sounds like a business to me.

I know it doesn’t work on cockroaches but might on these giants.

kv

 

This from Snopes.com:
"in 2020 we took a look at a defense mechanism of the Japanese honeybee which involved a swarming “bee ball” that cooked these large predators to death (True)."