Murder hornet , a.k.a Asian giant hornets , are n’t as dangerous as some headlines from spring of 2020 led people to consider . Though they rarely round humanity and can only kill in swarms , they stillpose a serious threatto the surround . Now , a unexampled subject published inCurrent Biologyis offer an innovative way to eradicate them : literal thirst traps laced with pheromones .
AsCNNreports , ateam of researchersfrom China and the U.S. were able to identify three fundamental chemical that make up the Asiatic giant hornet queen ’s sexual urge pheromone . After prevail hexanoic pane , octanoic acid , and decanoic Zen , they revive this alluring scent in traps that were positioned near hornet nest .
Though the bait did n’t attract to female hornets , it did a great caper appeal male specimen . Over the course of two seasons , the scientists caught thousands of Male with their sex traps .
Native to China , Japan , and other parts of Asia , Asian giant hornetswere first spotted in Washington state in late 2019 . They ’ve since expanded throughout the Pacific Northwest and into Canada , and experts are expect for ways to halt them from distribute throughout the repose of the continent .
They have n’t kill any humans since their arrival in North America , but the 2 - column inch - longsighted insects are a threat to aboriginal bees and honeybees , who have n’t adapted to defend themselves against hornet attacks like the bees in Asia . Using their spiked mandibles , murder hornets rend off their prey ’s heads and bring the thorax back to their nests for their unseasoned to feed on . The harm they cause could be $ 100 million in bee - pollenate crops in a year .
Hornet sex bunker could be a worthful tool in the fight to eradicate the hornet from the continent . The size of their footprint is still unclear , and the traps could be deploy to roll up data point and good understand their chain of mountains . By publishing their formula for bogus hornet pheromones for anyone to apply , the study authors trust that people in invaded regions will start building traps of their own .
[ h / tCNN ]
