Search Site   
Current News Stories
Lots to see and learn at the FSR’s Gwynne Conservation Area
Ask the Experts is a great way to gain knowledge at farm show
Farm Science Review is chock full of history going back centuries
Cox Farm in southwestern Ohio has seen changes over the years
Economist: EPA 45Z guidance could trigger ‘explosive’ ethanol price action in 2026
‘Transforming Tradition’ theme at this year’s Farm Science Review
Top conservation families to be honored at Farm Science Review
Three ag leaders named to 2025 Farm Science Review Hall of Fame
Illinois House ag committee member urges bipartisan farm bill talks
A year later, Kentucky Farmland Transition Initiative making strides
Unseasonably cool temperatures, dry soil linger ahead of harvest
   
News Articles
Search News  
   
Nearly 200 queens found in hornet’s nest

 
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – When scientists in Washington state destroyed the first nest of so-called murder hornets found in the United States, they discovered about 500 live specimens in various stages of development, officials said.
Among them were nearly 200 queens that had the potential to start their own nests, said Sven-Erik Spichiger, an entomologist leading the fight to kill the hornets.  “We got there just in the nick of time,” he said.
Still, that didn’t end the threat from the giant insects that can deliver painful though rarely deadly stings to people and wipe out entire hives of honey bees. Scientists think other nests already exist and say it’s impossible to know if any queens escaped before the first nest was destroyed.
Asian giant hornets, an invasive pest not native to the United States, are the world’s largest hornet at 2 inches (5 centimeters) long, and a predator of other insects, including the honey bees that pollinate many of the crops in Washington’s multi-billion-dollar agriculture industry.
Despite their nickname and the hype that has stirred fears in an already bleak year, the hornets kill at most a few dozen people a year in Asian countries, and experts say it’s probably far less. By comparison, hornets, wasps and bees typically found in the United States kill an average of 62 people a year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said.
The first murder hornets’ nest – found in a tree and destroyed in late October in Whatcom County along the Canadian border – was about the size of a basketball. 


11/24/2020