Nov 23, 2020 09:00:00

To eradicate Asian giant hornets, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is installing 'small transmitters' to find their nests.

The Asian giant hornet , which is widely distributed in East Asia and Japan, has recently expanded its range across the ocean to North America, where it is feared as a 'murder hornet.' In order to exterminate the Asian giant hornet, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is attempting to attach 'small transmitters' to the body of the Asian giant hornet.

USDA's Cutting-Edge Methods Help Deliver a Victory Against Asian Giant Hornet | USDA
https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2020/10/29/usdas-cutting-edge-methods-help-deliver-victory-against-asian-giant-hornet

Here's The Genius Trick USDA Is Using to Infiltrate Nests of Giant 'Murder' Hornets
https://www.sciencealert.com/how-the-usda-is-fighting-the-invasion-of-giant-murder-hornets-with-tiny-radio-tags

Vespa mandarinia is the world's largest hornet, found throughout Japan and widely distributed from India to Southeast Asia and Russia. It was previously believed that the Asian giant hornet did not inhabit North America, but in December 2019, the first sighting of the hornet in the United States was reported in Washington State, and in May 2020, its presence in Washington State was confirmed. The Asian giant hornet has attracted a great deal of attention in the United States, not only because it threatens the survival of honeybees, but also because it has sometimes taken human lives.

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https://apnews.com/article/c4acc013a2d9d26ac08e03723c69b603

The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) has also begun efforts to eradicate the giant hornets, and as of October 2020 was using a vacuum cleaner extermination method.

Successfully eradicated the nest of the giant hornet, feared as a 'murder hornet' for the first time in the United States - GIGAZINE

However, there is a problem with this type of extermination: the location of the nest is unknown. Asian giant hornets tend to build their nests deep in forests, inside hollows of fallen trees, and even underground cavities. This has resulted in many cases where the location of a nest is unknown, even though it should be located near where the Asian giant hornet has been spotted.

WSDA entomologists, who were struggling to locate the nests, came up with a new method: attaching small transmitters to live hornets to find the nests. In partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture, they attached small transmitters to hornets, which have proven effective in research on the Asian giant hornet and other insects .

Despite several failures, such as giant hornets escaping and the small transmitters coming off before the glue had dried, the WSDA team used the transmitters to identify the nest in a gap in the trunk of a dead tree. They successfully removed the nest after sucking up 85 hornets with a vacuum cleaner and capturing 13 more with a net. They then disposed of the two surviving queen bees and many of the worker bees that were still inside the nest.

Despite their victory, the WSDA team said the fight to eradicate the Asian giant hornet could continue for years to come, as they predict the hornet's range will continue to expand in the United States.

Continued

The US Department of Agriculture announces the eradication of giant hornets - GIGAZINE