People can drag out the social media memes again as a cousin of the famed murder hornet has been discovered in Savannah.
“People are no longer afraid of Covid, so release the murder hornets!”
The Georgia Department of Agriculture has confirmed that the invasive yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina, has been spotted in the state. The insect is native to Southeast Asia.
Like the so-called murder hornets that have invaded the Pacific Northwest, the yellow-legged hornet targets bees as prey, specifically honeybees, according to UGA Richmond County Extension Agent Campbell Vaughn.
It is not only honey producers that should take note, but farmers as well. Vaughn says that honeybees, which are not native species either, are routinely moved around by farmers like livestock to pollinate plants that do not have any natural pollinators.
“In the South, we love watermelon, but we would not be able to produce watermelon without honey bees, and the same goes for almonds. They pollinate the trees,” Vaughn said.
What makes the yellow-legged hornet such a problem is that the insects have no natural predators in North America. The hornet’s thick exoskeleton makes it almost impervious to attack, and while the bees are social and create nests, they are able to travel for miles.
According to the Department of Agriculture, the hornets can sniff out honeybee nests and use pheromones to alert other hornets to the location. The hornets then swarm the bee nest and can destroy the entire nest in a matter of days.
Vaughn says the hornets found in Savannah likely hitched a stowaway ride from Asia aboard a cargo vessel.
“That’s one of the problems you encounter in a global economy. Insects like hornets and invasive beetles can burrow into the soil used for ballast and then escape,” Vaughn said.
The hornets were discovered early, according to Vaughn, which means officials have a leg-up on eradicating the pests before they are able to gain a foothold.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
