Among the long list of other things that 2020 has thrown at us in just the first 5 months, it’s becoming increasingly harder to remember that it’s only May.

Has the isolation from quarantine convinced you that the outside world is all quiet? Maybe those “Nature is healing” posts are giving you an idea?

Just when we thought 2020 didn’t have any more in store for us (but let’s be honest, did any of us actually think that?), there’s now also large deadly hornets making their way into new continents.

Because of course they are

You may already know what Hornets are. They’re like bees, but bigger and meaner and not cute. They have pincers and bigger bodies. And unlike a bee sting that might give you allergies or make you feel uneasy for a little while, hornets are actually deadly, especially a lot of them.

Hornets are a type of wasp. Most wasps belong to the family Vespidae, named so for the genus Vespa. The scientific name is Italian for “Wasp”, and it’s also the namesake of the popular brand of scooters.

Now, perhaps as an invasive species, the Asian Giant “Murder” Hornets seem to be making their way into North America. And we’re only 6 months into 2020.

As John Mulaney said, “This might as well happen”

Giant Hornets are no joke. The Queens can grow up to 2.2 inches long. That’s 5.5 centimetres in the metric system, and using the wasp system, that’s “Way bigger than they have any right to be”.

Invasive species are no joke either. They can spell big trouble for the local ecosystem, and they can damage already vulnerable populations of native species.

The invasive species can be especially concerning if it’s a giant, venomous death wasp

The Asian Giant Hornet is the largest species of Hornet (of course it is). The 2.2 inches figure from earlier is for the exceptionally large queens. On average, they’re more like 1.8 inches (45 millimetres). That doesn’t sound big until you see a wasp that size.

The Asian Giant Hornet’s scientific name is Vespa mandarina, which actually sounds kind of elegant. These hornets have it in their nature to raid bee hives and decapitate the worker bees, which is how they earned the name “Murder hornets”.

And boy do they sting

Typical beekeeper suits are nothing to this hornet, and even heavy duty kevlar won’t completely protect you. Their venom is potent, and enough of them stinging you could be fatal.

To add to this already long list of nasty things about this hornet, they also form small swarms together between summer and fall where they attack honeybee nests.

This behavior is called the “slaughter and occupation” phase. It’s almost like they deliberately chose that name for it. In the U.S, the first confirmed sighting was a dead one in Washington. It wasn’t long before more of the hornets were found in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2019.

Now comes the trouble of figuring out how long they’ve really been in the U.S, and whether populations are starting to establish a foothold in the continent. We don’t want to have to add “Giant killer hornets” to the list of things to avoid when we go hiking in the woods.

Entomologists and other experts are already trying to get one step ahead of the hornet

First of all, they need to understand how the hornet travels and how often it can reproduce. Then comes the tracking and eradication, which is much-needed to protect the important pollinating insects that the hornets target.

But thankfully, experts seem to have it under control. Only a few isolated cases of the hornets popping up in the wild have been recorded. As a result, experts are telling us not to panic too much. Even more noteworthy is that very few people (only about 62 a year) die from hornet stings in the first place.

So while the sudden emergence of big, murder Hornets this year sounds like 2020 pulling out the big guns, it’s really just mildly concerning and not worth a giant panicky fuss. As long as you don’t go out your way to intentionally kick a hornet’s nest.

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Source: [Scientific American, LA Times, NY Times]