An unwelcome invader they will eat all kinds of pollinators, but their favourite food is honeybees. They also have a very nasty sting.
The Asian Hornet is about the size of a wasp. They are dark black/brown with an orange band on the fourth segment of their abdomen, they have yellow legs and an orange face, their wings are slightly longer than their body.
The queens will come out of hibernation in the next two months and start laying eggs in nests which can be found in towns and the countryside.
Sightings of the Asian hornet should be reported to alertnonnative@ceh.ac.uk with details of the location and a photo of the insect. A seasonal bee inspector will be out at once to verify the sighting and call in a team to eradicate the nest.
Cllr Ray Bryan, Dorset Council Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, said:
“Invasive species have the potential to cause huge problems for our native species and the Asian hornet is one where we can potentially stop it in its tracks if we are vigilant.
“Dorset Council is committed to doing everything we can to protect our native pollinators, in line with our Pollinator Action Plan, and urges members of the public to report sightings of Asian hornet.”
To be more precise and avoid confusion I would prefer to say that Asian hornets are “a bit larger” than a wasp.
Typically Asian hornet queens (egg-layers) are 30 mm in length and males about 24 mm, while the workers measure about 20 mm in length.
Queen wasps usually measure around 20-25mm in length, whereas workers measure approximately 12-17mm.
Check out – http://www.nonnativespecies.org/alerts/index.cfm
Asian hornet awareness and identification booklet
I had something very weird come indoors through the back door on the 24th April. It was around 30/40mms long – no yellow stripes, very hairy but wasp -shaped. The head was triangular and dark brown in colour, the body was perfectly round and light brown in colour, the tail end was darker but not as dark as the head and the whole was very hairy. The striping was very faint although it was there. the antenna were long and the wings were quite long and stuck out a bit from the body (i.e did not lay along the body). I am afraid I did not photograph it as I was quite worried about being stung so killed it with a zapper – which took 3 zaps to kill it. Sorry if this is not much help to you but it was quite alarming as I suspect a sting would have been very nasty.
I believe I had one of these hornets land by me today. I thought it was bumblebee and then turned to look at it and was first struck by the bright orange colour and it’s size, it was huge! I’m in Milton Abbas, Dorset.
I had a Asian hornet come in the house at night, which I was not a where they fly at night. I know what our hornet looks like I’ve seen plenty but this was a Asian hornet . I hit it hard . I’m in Beaminster, Dorset