The jumbo stingers from Asia known as “Murder Hornets” could make a return to the U.S. and wreak havoc this spring as the temperatures rise and their queen bees emerge from underground to start popping out babies.
According to the NY Post, Doug Yanega, a scientist at California’s Entomology Research Museum, explained, “Only the queens survive the winter, and right now, any [hornet] hibernating won’t come out until it’s warm enough to do so, in mid-to-late April.”
Yanega had studied hornets for the museum and believes, “At that point, it’s just a queen by herself trying to raise a batch of offspring — and we don’t generally start seeing them until her workers start multiplying in May or June,” the scientist said.
The first reported sighting of the hornets in the U.S. was recorded in Washington state in December 2019.
The hornets are believed to have migrated to the U.S. through Canada after arriving there from Asia.
