
Asia's 'murder hornet' will arrive on East Coast, are 'here to stay' experts say - nickgrosvenor
https://nypost.com/2020/05/03/asias-murder-hornet-will-arrive-on-the-east-coast-experts/
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detaro
Two recent discussions of articles about those hornets:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23057159](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23057159)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22826773](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22826773)

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Noumenon72
We have a lot of unemployed people right now who could be helping wipe these
guys out.

> Planakis said that in China, they have hornet hunters.

> “There’s a tracker, and what they do is they set up a water source, and they
> wait there, like a deer hunter would,” he said.

> “As soon as they see the hornet coming to the water source to drink, the guy
> jumps out with a net, and he grabs it. Then, ever so carefully, he ties a
> strong on it and lets it go.

> “There’s a spotter watching it now with binoculars, and he watches this
> thing as it flies, because obviously it’s going to fly back to the nest.
> When they find it, they mark where the nest is.

> “And at night they come back and with a flame-thrower, pretty much go at it,
> just follow them back to their base camp, and when they least expect it,
> boom, go after them.”

It's outdoors, it's socially distanced, it's the perfect job for the Covid-19
economy.

~~~
zxcvbn4038
I’ve seen this movie, did we learn nothing from Ridley Scott? Nuke them from
high orbit, it’s the only way to be sure.

------
exhilaration
The NYTimes did a story on these hornets one day before the Post ran this
story: [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/us/asian-giant-hornet-
was...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/us/asian-giant-hornet-
washington.html)

There's a second story today about how Japanese honey bees swarm these
hornets, raise the temperature, and cook them alive:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/03/us/murder-hornets-
asian-g...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/03/us/murder-hornets-asian-giant-
hornet-bees.html) There's a cool video to go along:
[https://youtu.be/awoV5Wj9Iys](https://youtu.be/awoV5Wj9Iys)

~~~
dntbnmpls
> The NYTimes did a story on these hornets one day before the Post ran this
> story:

Who cares? There have been reports by other news organizations for months now?
Does the exist of these hornets change whether it is reported by the nytimes
or not?

[https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2019/12/huge-
invasive...](https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2019/12/huge-invasive-bee-
killing-hornet-turns-up-in-washington-state.html)

> There's a second story today about how Japanese honey bees swarm these
> hornets, raise the temperature, and cook them alive:

This has been on social media for many many years. Nothing new or worthwhile
really.

> There's a cool video to go along:
> [https://youtu.be/awoV5Wj9Iys](https://youtu.be/awoV5Wj9Iys)

See. 2017.

------
varenc
Wikipedia link:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornet](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornet)

Some fun quotes:

“Fatalities from envenomation are primarily related to anaphylactic shock or
cardiac arrest.”

“Those who died, on average, were stung 59 times (with a standard deviation of
12)”

“Only a few hornets (under 50) can exterminate a colony of tens of thousands
of bees in a few hours”

“ European honey bees have no innate defense against the hornets, which can
rapidly destroy their colonies.”

And the wasps are also a dubious nutritional supplement.

------
snarfy
> “The worst thing anyone can do with these things is kill them,” he said.
> “That scent is going to be airborne, and the rest of the hive will come.

Sounds like good bait for a hornet trap.

------
riffraff
> Planakis said that inside their venom “is a pheromone, which is like a
> magnet to other hornets.” > “So you can get swarmed just from getting stung
> by one.” > “The worst thing anyone can do with these things is kill them,”
> he said. “That scent is going to be airborne, and the rest of the hive will
> come.

Isn't this true for all kinds of wasps/hornets?

------
lonelappde
Reminiscent the fire ant invasion
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_imported_fire_ants_in_th...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_imported_fire_ants_in_the_United_States)

~~~
zxcvbn4038
Or even worse - crazy ants.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasberry_crazy_ant](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasberry_crazy_ant)

------
gmuslera
The next big scare? Why would someone bring to the US a colony of them (or a
number big enough to make one)?

Anyway, I can't stop thinking on P.K.Dick's Meddler, but with hornets instead
of blue butterflies. Try to avoid bringing them from the future.

~~~
Andaith
As I understand it they were stowaways on a container ship.

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abledon
lyme disease ticks, asian murder hornets... what would be a nice third
candidate to gain footing here for an unholy trinity?

~~~
LogicX
Cicadas are what you’re looking for!

[https://nypost.com/2020/04/16/seventeen-year-cicadas-are-
abo...](https://nypost.com/2020/04/16/seventeen-year-cicadas-are-about-to-
invade-the-east-coast/)

~~~
theandrewbailey
Cicadas are pretty harmless.

~~~
zxcvbn4038
Cicadas my be harmless, but my wife running away from cicadas can cause
significant damage to property.

