[imagesource: Tom Hines/Facebook]

They weren’t holding back in Japan when they affectionately dubbed the Asian giant hornet (or vespa mandarinia, if you’re feeling extra special) the “murder hornet”.

I guess it doesn’t make sense to mess around when you have a species that kills a few dozen people a year in Asian countries.

Not ideal, but it’s worse for the bees.

The hornet’s life cycle begins in April, when queens emerge from hibernation, feed on plant sap and fruit, and look for underground dens to build their nests, all of which sounds pretty standard for a hornet.

Then in the late summer and early autumn, they transition into their “slaughter phase” and venture out like a marauding army, attacking beehives, before killing adult bees and devouring larvae and pupae.

Their stings are big and painful, with a potent neurotoxin.

Not the ideal dinner guests, and also not the kind of insect you want coming over to your country.

So, when they found the first known murder hornet nest in the US, in Blaine on the border between the country and Canada, by tracking the tiny beasts, they decided to do something about it ASAP.

Per The Guardian, on Saturday and wearing suits shipped in from overseas – murder hornets can sting through your standard beekeeper’s suit – a team headed out to destroy the nest.

…crews wearing thick protective suits vacuumed the invasive insects from the cavity of a tree into large canisters. The suits stopped the hornets’ 6mm stingers hurting workers, who also wore face shields because the trapped hornets were capable of spitting a painful venom.

Thanks for the nightmare fuel.

A play-by-play of how it all went down:

If you need a reminder that the insect world isn’t all death and destruction, take in the stunning shots from the Luminar Bug Photographer of the Year 2020 competition.

Look out for the moth near the end – he’s a cutie.

[source:guardian]