When you think about it, the murder hornet could star in its own horror film. Their eyes make them look permanently furious, and they’re nothing short of vicious. Case in point: Murder hornets delight in killing honeybees by decapitation and then ripping off their body parts to feed to their young.
In short, the little bastards are terrifying. But this week, their reign of terror came to an end, at least in the U.S.
An eradication five years in the making. On Wednesday, state and federal officials announced that the murder hornet, known scientifically as Vespa mandarinia, had been eradicated in the U.S. after three years without any detections. The hornet was first spotted in Washington State and neighboring British Columbia in 2019.
Sven Spichiger, a pest manager for the Washington State Department of Agriculture, highlighted the role of the public in the eradication of the invasive species, which would have posed a significant threat to honeybees and other pollinators and native insects if it had become established in the U.S.
Murder hornets can destroy a honeybee hive in just 90 minutes. Their stings also pose a threat to humans, killing up to 50 per year in Japan.
“Without the public’s support for this effort, it is unlikely we would be announcing the eradication of northern giant hornet today,” Spichiger said in a statement. “All of our nest detections resulted directly or indirectly from public reports. And half of our confirmed detections came from the public. The people of Washington can be proud that we did this by working together.”
Over the past five years, local and federal officials have focused on doing three things: trapping, tracking, and eradicating the murder hornets. Tracking them involved sticking a locator device on the insects, which allowed entomologists to find their hideouts.
Zooming in on murder hornets. Native to Asia, experts believe that the invasive species arrived to the U.S. by chance, mostly likely from a mated queen that sought shelter from the winter in a car, potted plant, or shipping container. However, exactly how the murder hornets got to America is still a mystery.
The murder hornet is the world’s largest species of hornet and usually measures 1.5 to 2 inches in length. Some of their distinguishing features include their large orange head with prominent eyes—those eyes look evil—and their black and orange/yellow stripped abdomens. Another prominent hallmark is their mandible, which is shaped like “spiked shark fins.”
The insects use their mandible to decapitate honeybees and decimate hives. They then fly off with their thoraxes of the dead bees to feed their young and harvest the brood of the hive, or eggs, as a food source. At a certain time of year, murder hornets go into what entomologists called a “slaughter phase.” This involves them “marking” a hive and then getting together to attack it in force.
The threat to humans. After hearing what murder hornets do to honeybees, it’s only natural to fear what the creatures could do to humans. The good news is that they don’t usually care about us. These little killers are not usually aggressive toward humans, though they will sting people who try to handle them or when defending their nest.
While their venom is similar to other insects, murder hornets are larger, which plays a role in their stings, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture. For instance, it means their stings can deliver a larger dose of venom. Furthermore, given that their stinger is longer than those of a typical wasp, beekeeping suits aren’t enough to protect against stings.
In extreme cases, murder hornet stings can cripple and kill human victims.
A “rare day” for humans. While many celebrated the demise of the hornets, experts pointed out that eradication is a lot harder than it seems.
“As an entomologist, I’ve been doing this for over 25 years now, and it is a rare day when the humans actually get to win one against the insects,” Spichiger said at a news conference.
Return of the hornet? As with many horror movies, it’s not all over when the killer is caught, and the same applies to murder hornets. Earlier this week, Washington State officials revealed that residents had reported a suspicious hornet sighting in Kitsap County in October, though a specimen was never found. As such, it’s unclear whether the report was of a murder hornet.
Spichiger said that although the insects were now eradicated, they would be keeping an eye out for them.
"They got here once and they could do it again," he warned.
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