Giant hornets found invading SC. Here’s why they’re a danger

The queen is dead — a queen, actually, a large invasive hornet captured last month on South Carolina’s doorstep.

It was found in Jasper County on March 14, the second of the yellow-legged hornet to be found in South Carolina. The first was collected Nov. 9, 2023, after Clemson University’s Department of Plant Industry Apiary Inspection Program and Clemson Cooperative Extension Apiculture and Pollinator Program set traps in the Lowcountry.

The problem with these abnormally large insects is they attack honeybees, which have enough problems with pesticides, drought, habitat destruction, nutrition deficit, air pollution and global warming. They can also disrupt the pollination of crops., the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported.

The hornet doesn’t normally attack people unless someone disturbs their nest.

Their egg-shaped paper nests — sometimes large enough to hold 6,000 hornets — are above ground and often in trees and on structures such as barns, garages and sheds.

“The fact that we captured a queen is significant, Steven Long, assistant director, Clemson Department of Plant Industry, said in a news release. “It means that we have prevented a yellow-legged hornet nest from establishing in South Carolina.”

The yellow-legged hornet comes from Southeast Asia and has gotten their footing across the Middle East and Europe.

The first in the United States was found last August in Savannah, where the Georgia Department of Agriculture is battling the pest.

The yellow-legged hornet looks a lot like several native insects, including the cicada killer wasp, the bald-faced hornet, paper wasps, queen yellowjackets, wood wasps and robber flies. The way to tell if it’s the invasive species is they are larger than the other stinging insects.

Clemson is asking for people to report sighting of any large hornets and hornet nests. www.clemson.edu/public/regulatory/plant-industry/invasive/ylh.html.

In the meantime, Plant Industry scientists are trapping year-round and will eradicate any nests they find.

“The yellow-legged hornet is a predatory insect that has been reported to attack western honeybee colonies and has become a serious pest of beekeeping operations where it has been introduced,” said Ben Powell, who directs Clemson Cooperative Extension’s Apiary and Pollinator program. “Establishment of this exotic pest in the U.S. would pose a significant threat to our already embattled beekeeping enterprises.”