The Georgia Department of Agriculture wants you to be on the lookout for an invasive insect.
Officials confirmed during a news conference Tuesday the detection of a living yellow-legged hornet in Georgia for the first time. This is also the first detection of a live yellow-legged hornet in the United States. A beekeeper in Savannah saw two of them and immediately reported it earlier this month, the GDA says.
“The hornet feeds on a variety of insects including honeybees, and other native pollinators. If allowed to establish in the state of Georgia and U.S. this pest could threaten honeybee production, native pollinators, and the agricultural industry to the state of Georgia,” said Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper.
Harper says agriculture is the state’s number one industry, with vast farms producing various crops we all enjoy. He feels protecting that is paramount.
“Growing up on a family farm as a 7th generation farmer myself, I understand the importance of agriculture to our state, to farm families all across this state,” he said.
Thankfully, entomologists say there is no serious threat to humans, but they still don’t know how these hornets got here, and if there are more out there.
“Its nickname is the Bee Hawk for good reason. They are very agile, they can swoop down and capture honeybees in the air and from the front of their hives,” says Harper.
Officials stress that these are not northern giant hornets, which made news a couple of years back.
“The coloration is a little more strongly black and yellow. On the fourth abdominal segment, it’s very strongly yellow,” Harper explained.
Harper says the departments are ready and have a plan to eradicate the species if there are more reported.
GDA’s website has been updated with additional information regarding the yellow-legged hornet and an easily accessible form to report potential sightings. This information is displayed on the homepage of the website here. Georgians with additional questions or concerns are encouraged to email GDA at yellow.legged.hornet@agr.georgia.gov.
Here is what to include with your report, if possible:
- Your name and contact information.
- The location of the sighting.
- Date of sighting.
- If you can, safely take photograph(s) of the hornet (GDA generally can only confirm a report with a photo or specimen).
- Location and approximate height of the nest if found (Is it in a tree? Approximately how high is the nest?).
- If you have no photo, please include a description of the size of the insect, the color of the head and body, and what it was doing.
- Description of the hive loss/damage (if no photo is available).
- The direction the hornet(s) flew when flying away.
If you believe you saw a yellow-legged hornet in another state or province, please report it to the Department of Agriculture for that state or province.
Source : ATLANTANEWSFIRST
