Entomologists have eradicated America's first ever known Asian Giant Hornet nest then discovered two queens:
The nest was found on private property in Blaine, Washington and the tree it was in has now been taken down. In doing so, scientists found two Asian Giant Hornet queens.
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Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) tweeted to say that the queens are either two virgins or one virgin and an old queen.
The log with the nest has now been opened and is being analysed with the WSDA saying that it may be 'some time' before final numbers can be announced.
In a statement on the WSDA website they did explain how 98 worker hornets were removed with 85 being vacuumed out and another 13 live hornets were collected with a net.
This is the first time an Asian Giant Hornet nest has been found in the US and it was discovered after experts captured and attached radio trackers to some of the insects and waited for them to go to their nest.
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Late on Thursday afternoon (22 October), one of them was traced to the nest and they then found dozens more entering the tree.
In a statement, WSDA said: "While Asian giant hornets normally nest in the ground, they are occasionally found nesting in dead trees. Dozens of the hornets were seen entering and exiting the tree while the WSDA team was present."
Sven Spichiger, the entomologist managing the eradication, said: "The eradication went very smoothly, even though our original plan had to be adapted due to the fact that the nest was in a tree, rather than the ground.
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"While this is certainly a morale boost, this is only the start of our work to hopefully prevent the Asian giant hornet from gaining a foothold in the Pacific Northwest. We suspect there may be more nests in Whatcom County."
The operation began at about 5:30am with the team donning protective suits and setting up scaffolding around the tree so they could reach the opening of the nest, which was about ten feet high.
The team stuffed dense foam padding into a crevice above and below the nest entrance and wrapped the tree with cellophane, leaving just a single opening. This is where the team inserted a vacuum hose to remove the hornets from the nest.
WSDA director Derek Sandison said: "This weekend's successful operation is due in large part to the careful planning and hard work of our Pest Program team.
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"I also want thank the landowners, all those who have reported Asian giant hornet sightings to us, and the citizen scientists who set traps, as well as staff with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington State University, and the University of Washington who have assisted in these efforts."
Featured Image Credit: Washington State Department Of AgricultureTopics: Community, Animals, US
