Tracking the ‘Murder Hornet’: A Deadly Pest Has Reached North America

Sightings of the Asian giant hornet have prompted fears that the vicious insect could establish itself in the United States and devastate bee populations.


BLAINE, Wash. — 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.

Mr. McFall still is not certain that Asian giant hornets were responsible for the plunder of his hive. But two of the predatory insects were discovered last fall in the northwest corner of Washington State, a few miles north of his property — the first sightings in the United States.
Scientists have since embarked on a full-scale hunt for the hornets, worried that the invaders could decimate bee populations in the United States and establish such a deep presence that all hope for eradication could be lost.

www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/us/asian-giant-hornet-washington.html

Aw shit, the yak killer hornets are fucking nasty. The general horent can get up to two inches long too, not just the queen. Believe it is the second largest hornet in the world at an inch and a half on average. The subspecies the great sparrow bee hornet has nasty as venom that can kill you. It is the subspecies that usually kills though not the regular non-horned variety.

The real question now remains, these guys may be tough, but are they killer bee tough?  

Fires, disease and now murder hornets - which god did we make mad?

Super happy these showed up on the west coast, and in the state literally underneath where I live. I’m only a few hours from the US border where I live. And in one of the warmest parts of Canada.

Yaaayyyyyy

Sweet! Now I just need...

*checks apocalypse Bingo card*

Second coming of Zuul FTW~!

May 3, 2020 1:37:55 GMT c said:

Aw shit, the yak killer hornets are fucking nasty. The general horent can get up to two inches long too, not just the queen. Believe it is the second largest hornet in the world at an inch and a half on average. The subspecies the great sparrow bee hornet has nasty as venom that can kill you. It is the subspecies that usually kills though not the regular non-horned variety.

The real question now remains, these guys may be tough, but are they killer bee tough?  

We should ask the Kings of Pain that question.

May 3, 2020 1:37:55 GMT c said:

Aw shit, the yak killer hornets are fucking nasty. The general horent can get up to two inches long too, not just the queen. Believe it is the second largest hornet in the world at an inch and a half on average. The subspecies the great sparrow bee hornet has nasty as venom that can kill you. It is the subspecies that usually kills though not the regular non-horned variety.

The real question now remains, these guys may be tough, but are they killer bee tough?  

Probably about the same. Killer bees are so dangerous because they have huge swarms. These murder hornets are just as dangerous but can take out a human with way fewer numbers. And these hornets are known for taking out other bee swarms because they use their torsos for food.

May 3, 2020 18:46:25 GMT RT said:

May 3, 2020 1:37:55 GMT c said:

Aw shit, the yak killer hornets are fucking nasty. The general horent can get up to two inches long too, not just the queen. Believe it is the second largest hornet in the world at an inch and a half on average. The subspecies the great sparrow bee hornet has nasty as venom that can kill you. It is the subspecies that usually kills though not the regular non-horned variety.

The real question now remains, these guys may be tough, but are they killer bee tough?  

Probably about the same. Killer bees are so dangerous because they have huge swarms. These murder hornets are just as dangerous but can take out a human with way fewer numbers. And these hornets are known for taking out other bee swarms because they use their torsos for food.

That's the real danger right there,   Asian Giant Hornets are extremely deadly to honey bees.   A single one of them can kill 40 honey bees in a minute.   Less than 50 can exterminate an entire hive in a few hours.   Worse yet, North American honey bees have no natural defense against them.   Not only do they represent a danger to honey production, but they also represent a danger to any plant species pollinated by honey bees.

May 8, 2020 15:57:43 GMT thereallt said:

May 3, 2020 18:46:25 GMT RT said:

Probably about the same. Killer bees are so dangerous because they have huge swarms. These murder hornets are just as dangerous but can take out a human with way fewer numbers. And these hornets are known for taking out other bee swarms because they use their torsos for food.

That's the real danger right there,   Asian Giant Hornets are extremely deadly to honey bees.   A single one of them can kill 40 honey bees in a minute.   Less than 50 can exterminate an entire hive in a few hours.   Worse yet, North American honey bees have no natural defense against them.   Not only do they represent a danger to honey production, but they also represent a danger to any plant species pollinated by honey bees.

The videos I’ve seen of them taking out swarms are crazy. They just grab them and bite their heads off and leave piles of bodies. It’s fucked.

The only defence I’ve seen that bees have is swarming them and overheating them, but that takes a minute and like you said, if a handful of them attack a hive it’s over.

May 8, 2020 16:52:30 GMT RT said:

May 8, 2020 15:57:43 GMT thereallt said:

That's the real danger right there,   Asian Giant Hornets are extremely deadly to honey bees.   A single one of them can kill 40 honey bees in a minute.   Less than 50 can exterminate an entire hive in a few hours.   Worse yet, North American honey bees have no natural defense against them.   Not only do they represent a danger to honey production, but they also represent a danger to any plant species pollinated by honey bees.

The videos I’ve seen of them taking out swarms are crazy. They just grab them and bite their heads off and leave piles of bodies. It’s fucked.

The only defence I’ve seen that bees have is swarming them and overheating them, but that takes a minute and like you said, if a handful of them attack a hive it’s over.

Yup....and only Japanese honey bees know how to do it.   European and American honey bees don't know.  That is why the Asian Giant Hornet is so invasive in Europe  and North America.

Apparently the humble wasps are fighting back.

For the Americans. Welcome to Australia. We may not have murder hornets yet, but we have remaining rouges gallery of murderous insects.

Just wanna say that I love that Japanese honey bees are ninjas, because of course they are.

We need the tiebreaker!

May 8, 2020 21:50:52 GMT System said:

We need the tiebreaker!

I don't want to be "that guy" or a conspiracy theorist, but I don't think that is the same hornet in video one and two.  :suspic:

It also would have been much better if it was set to D12's fight music.

Did anyone ever see on 4chan there used to be a link to some weird Chinese live streaming video site where there was a guy who would put all sorts of spiders, rats, scorpions into a tank to fight each other?
I am scarred by the internet.  :wave:

The battle royale fights used to be on youtube. Maybe still are.