Just as things are looking up for the honeybee, we had a possible new threat to the honey bees. It’s called Vespa Mandarinia or “The Northern Giant Hornet”.
It sounds terrible, and they look frightening too! In actuality, however, the “Murder Hornet” is just a nickname for an insect widely known as the Asian Giant Hornet. As you can imagine, with a nickname like that, we have been getting many questions from our clients about whether or not the giant hornet is a threat to us here in San Diego.
Although the headlines that began circulating about 4 years ago, stirred up fear across the nation, most entomologists agree there is nothing to fear, at least for the time being.
An article in the San Diego Union Tribune suggests that the fear over the Vespa Mandarinia is way overblown, and that people are panicking unnecessarily. For those who have been asking us, no one here at Bee Best Bee Removal has seen any of these giant hornets here in San Diego County…and for that we are grateful.
You see, the fear originated when a beekeeper in Custer, WA noticed the decimation of one of his beehive colonies. Later entomologists found two of the Asian Giant Hornets just a few miles north from his property. It was the first sighting of this hornet on US soil.
Although most scientist agree that the majority of the US need not fear this hornet, it is something to be concerned and aware about. If the Giant Asian Hornet continues to proliferate and spread (like Africanized bees did back in the 1990’s), it would pose a serious threat to both the wild, feral honeybees and the agricultural livestock honeybees.
Take a look at a recent video by YouTube personality Coyote Peterson. He has an interesting (if somewhat campy) take on the threat. Is he right? Only time will tell.
