An invasive hornet that hunts honeybees is spotted in the U.S. for the first time

[We Never Know]

Well that sux. Without pollinators we more than likely wouldn't exist.

"Agriculture officials are raising the alarm after an invasive yellow-legged hornet was seen near Savannah, Ga. The insects are devastatingly effective at preying on honeybees and other pollinators.

"This is the first time a live specimen of this species has been detected in the open United States," the Georgia Department of Agriculture said, after confirming the insect's presence with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Georgia.

The yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina, is native to Southeast Asia. It's a close cousin of the northern giant hornet, Vespa mandarinia, also known as the Asian giant hornet — or, more frighteningly, "murder hornet," for the deadly and violent havoc it wreaks on bee colonies."

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/17/1194237181/yellow-legged-hornet-georgia

 

[Quintessence]

It's something of a running joke amongst invasion biologists that humans are the most invasive species on the face of the planet. In spite of that, humans routinely externalize the problems of other invasive species - that are only there because of human invasiveness - through genocidal mass murder of them. Says a lot about humans, really. Our invasiveness is collapsing ecosystems worldwide and has kicked off a sixth mass extinction event. It will not stop until humans are gone.

 

[Revoltingest]

Obviously we need to engineer deadlier bees.
That couldn't possibly go wrong.

 

[ChristineM]

They don't actually hunt so much nut rather go to the hives and hang around the entrance until a bee comes out or returns home and then rips them apart.