Saturday, May 9, 2020

Arthro-Pod Special Edition: What the heck is a "murder hornet"?



If you have been watching the news lately, you have undoubtedly heard the phrase "murder hornet" being thrown around. There’s a lot of fear-mongering and sensationalism out there. We’re all stressed out and anything nicknamed a “murder hornet” can’t be good.
The Arthro-Pod gang is here with a special podcast episode to tell you it will be okay and there is little/no chance of you being murdered by one of these hornets. If you have a life-threatening allergy to bees/wasp venom, and even if you don’t, be aware of your surroundings and avoid disturbing hives or nests. Even the cutest, most helpful honey bee will sting you of she thinks the colony is in danger.
We are including some helpful resources here from reliable sources if you are interested in learning more about the Asian giant hornet, Vespa mandarinia. But please stop calling it the “murder hornet”. Entomologists do not and have never referred to them as such.
Bottom line: Chill don’t kill. 


Photo: Quinlyn Baine, Washington State Department of Agriculture.
Resources
Washington State:

Asian Giant Hornet in the Pacific Northwest
Presentation by entomologist Chris Looney (March 2020) from Washington State Department of Ag

Washington State Department of Agriculture

WSDA - Hornet FB Page


Penn State extension publication
https://extension.psu.edu/asian-giant-hornets
Purdue Landscape Report
https://www.purduelandscapereport.org/article/murder-hornets-should-you-panic-probably-not-heres-why/ 
University of Kentucky infographic
https://kentuckypestnews.wordpress.com/2020/05/05/asian-giant-hornet-in-the-news-but-not-kentucky/
Info from North Carolina State

https://citybugs.tamu.edu/2020/05/05/giant-hornets/

Questions? Comments? 
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This episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/



Beginning/ending theme: "There It Is" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0