The world’s largest hornet, an invasive breed nicknamed the “murder hornet” for its dangerous sting and ability to slaughter a hive of honeybees in as little as 90 minutes, has been declared eradicated in the US, five years after being spotted for the first time in Washington state near the Canadian border.

The hornets, which can be 2 inches (5 cm) long and were formerly called Asian giant hornets, gained attention in 2013, when they killed 42 people in China and seriously injured 1,675.

The news represented an enormous success and was achieved in part by residents agreeing to place traps on their properties and reporting sightings, as well as researchers capturing a live hornet, attaching a tiny radio tracking tag to it with dental floss, and following it through a forest to a nest in an alder tree. Scientists destroyed the nest just as a number of queens were beginning to emerge, officials said.

“I’ve gotta tell you, as an entomologist I’ve been doing this for over 25 years now, and it is a rare day when the humans actually get to win one against the insects,” Sven Spichiger, pest program manager of the Washington state department of agriculture, told a virtual news conference.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/19/murder-hornet-eradicated-us-washington