Even as the US remains under attack from the coronavirus outbreak, a new terror has arrived: “murder hornets”, the BBC reported.
The 2-inch (5cm) long Asian giant hornets, Vespa mandarinia, have been found in Washington state.
Multiple stings are deadly to humans and in their “slaughter phase” the hornets destroy honeybees, whose bodies they feed to their young.
Scientists are now on a hunt for the hornets, hoping to eradicate the species before they wipe out US bees.
Although they typically avoid people, in Asia, “murder hornet” stings are thought to cause as many as 50 human fatalities a year, according to the New York Times.
According to the BBC, The Hornets made their first North American appearance in August 2019, in British Columbia, Canada. Months later, in December 2019, the flying insects were reported south of the border in Washington state.
Washington State University (WSU) are unsure how or when the hornet first arrived in North America, but beekeepers in the region have reported gruesome hive deaths in recent months. Scientists are bracing for further emergence of the species, which begins its life cycle in spring.
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