Last month the Washington Department of Agriculture announced that they found the first Asian giant hornet of the year. The hornet, more commonly known as a “murder hornet,” was dried up and dead by the time they discovered it.
Managing Entomologist Sven Spichiger explained that the male hornet was a little different looking than the ones that were found in 2019 and 2020, but after running tests, they found that it was a murder hornet nonetheless. “This specimen went through our full verification process, which is a three-step process where we send the specimen to a regional laboratory with the USDA and then off to the national laboratory for that final confirmation. The final confirmation was received on Friday, (June) 11th. It was determined to be Vespa mandarinia, which of course is Asian giant hornet.”
He said that the insect is most likely from one of three countries in Southeast Asia. Spichiger wanted to remind people that even though a hornet was discovered, that doesn’t mean that there’s a population of murder hornets in the United States. Overall, he believes the Asian hornet had been dead for a significant amount of time. “It is our belief that this specimen is from 2020 or earlier. My honest opinion is that it seemed to have died in a protected place and maybe fallen out and landed on the lawn there.”
He brought up the fact that it’s entirely possible that the hornet basically hitchhiked its way to the states thanks to global trade. Either way, we have nothing to worry about at the moment.
