Just in time for Halloween, the Washington State Department of Agriculture reveals what was inside a truly haunted house or nest.
Early Friday, entomologists from the WSDA Pest Program cut down the tree that housed a nest of giant Asian hornets, or so-called “murderous hornets,” which had become a frightening reality near Blaine, Wash., Before to be eradicated last weekend. .
The cellophane-wrapped log was sawn inside a cooler at Washington State University’s Puyallup Research and Extension Center in the hopes that cooler temperatures would make the hornets left alive less mobile.
PREVIOUSLY: UW researcher put tiny tracking tech on giant hornets to help state tackle deadly pest
Last Saturday at space age bee costumes, state personnel sucked 85 hornets from the tree. They were driven to its location – the first such discovery of a giant Asian hornet’s nest in the United States – after trapping and tagging a hornet with a tiny radio transmitter.
The team collected more live hornets on Friday, with adult specimens including both new queens and worker bees still in the nest. Several larvae were recovered and the white-capped cells contained developing adults.
A radio tag that had been attached with dental floss to a previously trapped hornet – and which ultimately led to the location of the nest – was also found inside the tree. WSDA reported that the small tracking device appeared to have been eaten away.
The WSDA plans to spend several days recording data such as number and caste of adult specimens, number and size of nest cells, overall nest size, weight and length of specimens collected, etc. The data will be made public when complete and will be posted on the state’s Asian giant hornet webpage.
The Asian giant hornet is the largest species of hornet in the world. The very first sightings were in the United States in December in northwest Washington state. Hornets are known to attack and destroy bee hives during a “slaughter phase” where they kill bees by beheading them.
WSDA will continue to search for the pest. Citizen scientist trappers in Whatcom, Skagit, Island and San Juan counties in Washington keep traps in place for about a month.
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