Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Tales from a
Sisters
Naturalist
by Jim Anderson
Invasion of
the giant bee
snatchers!
The Xerces Society, one
of the leading world-wide
insect conservation organi-
zations, put on a four-hour
Bumble Bee Atlas webinar
a couple of weeks back.
Right in the middle of it,
the presenter, Professor
Rich Hatfield, paused in his
recitation on bumble bees
and placed an illustration
of the Asian giant wasp on
the screen, saying: <This is
not one of our local bum-
ble bees, it is the <murder
wasp= that9s hit the head-
lines recently. The reason
I put this in my program is
because I have heard of mis-
informed people killing our
native bumble bees, think-
ing they are the infamous
invader, the Asian yellow-
faced wasp.=
Please, Good People, be
sure of what you are killing
before you do it. Our native
bumble bees are among the
most important plant polli-
nators on this beautiful old
Earth we call home. They
have enough trouble staying
alive without being killed
because they are being mis-
taken for the alien Asian
giant wasp.
As near as I can discover,
about 15 of these giant
invaders have been observed
in the USA proper, and
that was up near Tacoma,
Washington. If a group
somehow got trapped in a
shipping container in the
home range of these giants,
and then got loose when they
arrived in the Seattle docks,
they could have flown to
the Tacoma area, but&
Entomologists at
Washington State University
(WSU) are looking into the
sudden appearance of these
giant wasps, Vespa manda-
rinia. The invaders are as
long as a child9s little finger
4 the world9s largest wasps
4 and they are fearsome-
looking creatures.
They have a sting that can
kill humans if one is stung
multiple times, earning
them their nickname, <mur-
der wasps.= Beekeepers in
the area of discovery have
reported piles of dead bees
with their heads ripped off,
an alarming sight and appar-
ently the sign of the giant
wasp9s actions. Obviously,
the U.S. doesn9t need
another factor endangering
our native pollinators and
the honey business.
Back in their home
range, these monsters are
found in the forests and low
mountains of eastern and
southeast Asia. They live
in dens in the ground (as
do our native bumble bees),
and feed on large insects,
including native wasps and
the European honey bees,
which they are devastating
in Japan.
The newest report on
the wasp9s presence in the
U.S. came in at the end of
May from the little town of
Custer, Washington, near
the British Columbia bor-
der. The monstrous insect
was found dead and has
been reported by WSU to
be a mated queen, which to
me, as a former bee-keeper,
spells bad news. She may
have come from a colony of
her own, or 4 worse news
4 she may have come from
a colony already spreading
out and she was looking
for a new place to build a
colony.
If so, she may have sis-
ters out looking for the same
thing&
While they are not usu-
ally aggressive towards
humans, they can be if pro-
voked, claim WSU scien-
tists. Their stingers are big
and painful, and inject a
potent neurotoxin.
So, what do you do if you
spot an Asian giant wasp? I
would call our local county
health department (541-322-
7400). If the insect is dead
PHOTO COURTESY THE XERCES SOCIETY
This is the dreaded Asian wasp.
or in pieces please do all you
can to obtain the specimen
for further study and iden-
tification. No matter how
loathsome it may appear,
please do not dispose of it;
save it in a jar.
The last thing we want to
see happen is for these huge
invaders to get their feet on
the ground 4 literally 4
and reproduce.
PHOTO BY JIM ANDERSON
This is not; it is one of our 30 species of treasured native bumble bees!
Please treat our native bees kindly, and get to know them.
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