Invasive descendants of Callery pears have been found in more than 30 states of America.

The United States Department of Agriculture has described them as “Worse than murder hornets!”

Creating thickets that overwhelm native plants, the stinky trees sport nasty four-inch spikes.

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Their smell has been compared to perfume gone wrong, rotting fish, chlorine, and a cheese sandwich left in a car for a week.

Callery pears were originally brought to the US a century ago to save ravaged pear orchards but now 24 ornamental trees have developed from them.

Though most of the invasions have been reported in the South and Northeast of the country, it has also spread to Indiana.

“If you mow it, it sprouts and you get a thicket,” said James&nbsp;Vogt, a scientist at the US Forest Service’s Southern Research Station in Athens, Georgia.

Calling it a ''menace'' he said, “If you burn it, it sprouts, too.”

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According to David R. Coyle, an assistant professor in Clemson University’s Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation, ''Seedlings only a few months old bear spurs that can punch through tractor tires.''

“They’re kind of a food desert for a bird,” he added.&nbsp;

University of Cincinnati researcher Theresa M. Culley said, “A wild population can potentially originate from a single landscaping tree that someone plants in their yard.”

Scientists at the US Department of Agriculture had first observed a mutant growing from seeds of Callery pears in 1952.

They cloned an ornamental line by grafting its cuttings onto roots of other Callery pears which generated 24 more varieties.

New York City's parks department spokesman Dan Kastanis said more than 58,000 out of 650,000 trees planted along the streets were Bradford and other Callery ornamentals.

(With inputs from agencies)

Invasive descendants of Callery pears have been found in more than 30 states of America. The United States Department of Agriculture has described them as “Worse than murder hornets!

Invasive descendants of Callery pears have been found in more than 30 states of America. The United States Department of Agriculture has described them as “Worse than murder hornets!” Creating thickets that overwhelm native plants, the stinky trees sport nasty four-inch spikes. Their smell has been compared to perfume gone wrong, rotting fish, chlorine, and a cheese sandwich left in a car for a week. Callery pears were originally brought to the US a century ago to save ravaged pear orchards but now 24 ornamental trees have developed from them. Though most of the invasions have been reported in the South and Northeast of the country, it has also spread to Indiana. “If you mow it, it sprouts and you get a thicket,” said James Vogt, a scientist at the US Forest Service’s Southern Research Station in Athens, Georgia. Calling it a ''menace'' he said, “If you burn it, it sprouts, too.” Watch: New rare species of crown jellyfish found in Monterey Bay by scientists in US According to David R. Coyle, an assistant professor in Clemson University’s Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation, ''Seedlings only a few months old bear spurs that can punch through tractor tires.'' “They’re kind of a food desert for a bird,” he added. University of Cincinnati researcher Theresa M. Culley said, “A wild population can potentially originate from a single landscaping tree that someone plants in their yard.” Scientists at the US Department of Agriculture had first observed a mutant growing from seeds of Callery pears in 1952. They cloned an ornamental line by grafting its cuttings onto roots of other Callery pears which generated 24 more varieties. New York City's parks department spokesman Dan Kastanis said more than 58,000 out of 650,000 trees planted along the streets were Bradford and other Callery ornamentals. (With inputs from agencies)

Invasive descendants of Callery pears found in over 30 states in US

Washington state eradicated its first Asian giant hornet nest of the year by vacuuming out 113 worker hornets and removing bark and decayed wood near the nest, Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) officials said on Thursday (August 26).

Washington state eradicates first 'murder hornet' nest of the year

Just days after the first Asian giant hornet sighting of the year, state Department of Agriculture employees from Washington and Oregon gathered in an open air class room just a few miles south of the Canadian border on Wednesday (August 18) to learn how to trap, track and eradicate the invasive species.

A crash course on how to track, trap and kill 'murder hornets'

Washington state has confirmed its second “murder hornet” sighting of 2021.&nbsp;

As per a statement released by the Washington state department of agriculture, this is the first report of a live Asian giant hornet in the state this year.

"The report included a photograph of an Asian giant hornet attacking a paper wasp nest in a rural area east of Blaine, about 2 miles from where WSDA eradicated the first Asian giant hornet nest in the United States last October", read the statement.

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This comes after two months scientists found a dead hornet north of Seattle, marking the first murder hornet found in the US this year.

Sven Spichiger, WSDA’s managing entomologist said, "This hornet is exhibiting the same behaviour we saw last year – attacking paper wasp nests".

He added, "If you have paper wasp nests on your property and live in the area, keep an eye on them and report any Asian giant hornets you see. Note the direction they fly off to as well".

Washington state has confirmed its second “murder hornet” sighting of 2021. As per a statement released by the Washington state department of agriculture, this is the first report of a live Asian giant hornet in the state this year.

Washington state has confirmed its second “murder hornet” sighting of 2021. As per a statement released by the Washington state department of agriculture, this is the first report of a live Asian giant hornet in the state this year. "The report included a photograph of an Asian giant hornet attacking a paper wasp nest in a rural area east of Blaine, about 2 miles from where WSDA eradicated the first Asian giant hornet nest in the United States last October", read the statement. Also read | US issues new terrorism threat warning ahead of 9/11 anniversary This comes after two months scientists found a dead hornet north of Seattle, marking the first murder hornet found in the US this year. Sven Spichiger, WSDA’s managing entomologist said, "This hornet is exhibiting the same behaviour we saw last year – attacking paper wasp nests". He added, "If you have paper wasp nests on your property and live in the area, keep an eye on them and report any Asian giant hornets you see. Note the direction they fly off to as well".

Washington state confirms first live ‘murder hornet’ sighting of 2021

When it comes to the hunt, giant hornets in the genus Vespa do not mess around.

These matchbox-size terrors — a group that includes the infamous “murder hornets” — will invade honeybee hives, brutally behead the residents and carry the mangled carcasses back to their young. A small cavalry of the hangry hornets can exterminate a colony of bees in hours.

But even the mightiest of monsters can be stopped. And a good way for honeybees to fend off Public Insect Enemy No. 1 might be to serve them a helping of No. 2.

To ward off giant hornet attacks, honeybees in Vietnam will adorn the entrances to their nests with other animals’ feces, a defensive behavior called fecal spotting, according to a paper published last month in the journal PLoS One. The odious ornamentation seems to repel the wasps — or at least seriously wig them out — and offers the intriguing possibility that honeybees might use stool as a type of rudimentary tool.

Decorating one’s home with dung might sound indecorous, especially for the docile bees that so many people associate with candy. “We think of bees visiting pretty flowers and collecting sweet nectar,” said Rachael Bonoan, a bee biologist at Providence College who wasn’t involved in the study. “This is the complete antithesis to that.”

But the scat-based strategy appears to capitalize on a relatable trend: Most creatures aren’t keen on muddying their meals with someone else’s waste.

A team of researchers led by Heather Mattila, who studies bees at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, was first alerted to the baffling behavior nearly a decade ago while doing field work in Vietnam, where honey bees are terrorized by Vespa soror hornets, a close sister species of the Asian giant hornet, Vespa mandarinia, that frightened people in the Pacific Northwest last year.

Local beekeepers had spied a smattering of grayish-brown gunk around the entrances to honey bee colonies, which the insects seemed to decorate in a frenzy in the wake of hornet assaults. No one was certain what the substance was, but “it didn’t smell good,” Mattila said. One keeper noticed bees buzzing around some water buffalo droppings and wondered if it was the source of the stench.

Mattila and her colleagues started scouting local farms, squatting in pig pens and chicken coops. In time, Mattila spotted a honeybee alighting on a jumble of chicken scat. The bee tugged diligently at a mote of the muck with her mouthparts, then carried it away. “I remember running back to the apiary, screaming, ‘It’s true; it’s finally true!’ ” Mattila said.

Hours of video proved the insect’s act wasn’t an anomaly. When the researchers placed buffets of animal dung near several apiaries, bees harvested clumps of it, dabbing their nests in carefully mounded lumps, each roughly the size of a sesame or poppy seed. Spotting seemed to spike in the days after hornets attacked. At their most bedecked, the colony entrances looked “like an everything bagel,” Mattila said.

Honeybees are typically fastidious creatures, keeping their households spotlessly clean. “Bees don’t even poop in their own hives,” Bonoan said. Hauling around another animal’s feces, she added, can carry risks of disease or even death.

But hornets spent less time lurking around the entrances of nests freckled with feces and were less likely to team up to invade colonies. It’s not yet clear how big an effect spotting has on survival. Honeybees have an array of tactics they deploy when danger is afoot, including a devious and sometimes self-sacrificial move called balling, in which a phalanx of worker bees swarms a hornet to suffocate or overheat it. In the long run, dung might not make a huge difference.

The researchers also don’t know how the flecks of feces are dissuading the hornets. One possibility is that they’re avoiding the noxious plant compounds that linger in some excrement. Mattila noted that the bees seemed to go especially bonkers for chicken droppings.

And, of course, “poop is really smelly,” Bonoan said. Feces might act like a reverse deodorant, overlaying its foul stench atop the alluring waxy, floral scent that typically wafts from more pristine nests.

Because spotting involves deliberate manipulation of manure, Mattila’s team argued that it might qualify as tool use. Bonoan said she wasn’t yet sold on the idea, noting that the feces might not be altered enough along the way.

Known tool users like humans might be tempted to try and thwart giant hornets with slurries of scat, especially as concerns about invasive Vespa species continue to command national attention. While Asian giant hornets don’t typically pay humans much mind, they can occasionally deliver searingly painful, venom-laced stings.

But there’s no guarantee that all giant hornets will shy away from dung, said Margarita López-Uribe, an entomologist at Pennsylvania State University who wasn’t involved in the study. Beekeepers also shouldn’t rush out to spray their hives with feces, which could contaminate the valuable honey within.

Bees might benefit from fecal spotting, Bonoan said. But “if you’re a human, don’t use poop to try and protect yourself from a murder hornet.”

When it comes to the hunt, giant hornets in the genus Vespa do not mess around. These matchbox-size terrors — a group that includes the infamous “murder hornets” — will invade honeybee hives, brutally behead the residents and carry the mangled carcasses back to their young.

When it comes to the hunt, giant hornets in the genus Vespa do not mess around. These matchbox-size terrors — a group that includes the infamous “murder hornets” — will invade honeybee hives, brutally behead the residents and carry the mangled carcasses back to their young. A small cavalry of the hangry hornets can exterminate a colony of bees in hours. But even the mightiest of monsters can be stopped. And a good way for honeybees to fend off Public Insect Enemy No. 1 might be to serve them a helping of No. 2. To ward off giant hornet attacks, honeybees in Vietnam will adorn the entrances to their nests with other animals’ feces, a defensive behavior called fecal spotting, according to a paper published last month in the journal PLoS One. The odious ornamentation seems to repel the wasps — or at least seriously wig them out — and offers the intriguing possibility that honeybees might use stool as a type of rudimentary tool. Decorating one’s home with dung might sound indecorous, especially for the docile bees that so many people associate with candy. “We think of bees visiting pretty flowers and collecting sweet nectar,” said Rachael Bonoan, a bee biologist at Providence College who wasn’t involved in the study. “This is the complete antithesis to that.” But the scat-based strategy appears to capitalize on a relatable trend: Most creatures aren’t keen on muddying their meals with someone else’s waste. A team of researchers led by Heather Mattila, who studies bees at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, was first alerted to the baffling behavior nearly a decade ago while doing field work in Vietnam, where honey bees are terrorized by Vespa soror hornets, a close sister species of the Asian giant hornet, Vespa mandarinia, that frightened people in the Pacific Northwest last year. Local beekeepers had spied a smattering of grayish-brown gunk around the entrances to honey bee colonies, which the insects seemed to decorate in a frenzy in the wake of hornet assaults. No one was certain what the substance was, but “it didn’t smell good,” Mattila said. One keeper noticed bees buzzing around some water buffalo droppings and wondered if it was the source of the stench. Mattila and her colleagues started scouting local farms, squatting in pig pens and chicken coops. In time, Mattila spotted a honeybee alighting on a jumble of chicken scat. The bee tugged diligently at a mote of the muck with her mouthparts, then carried it away. “I remember running back to the apiary, screaming, ‘It’s true; it’s finally true!’ ” Mattila said. Hours of video proved the insect’s act wasn’t an anomaly. When the researchers placed buffets of animal dung near several apiaries, bees harvested clumps of it, dabbing their nests in carefully mounded lumps, each roughly the size of a sesame or poppy seed. Spotting seemed to spike in the days after hornets attacked. At their most bedecked, the colony entrances looked “like an everything bagel,” Mattila said. Honeybees are typically fastidious creatures, keeping their households spotlessly clean. “Bees don’t even poop in their own hives,” Bonoan said. Hauling around another animal’s feces, she added, can carry risks of disease or even death. But hornets spent less time lurking around the entrances of nests freckled with feces and were less likely to team up to invade colonies. It’s not yet clear how big an effect spotting has on survival. Honeybees have an array of tactics they deploy when danger is afoot, including a devious and sometimes self-sacrificial move called balling, in which a phalanx of worker bees swarms a hornet to suffocate or overheat it. In the long run, dung might not make a huge difference. The researchers also don’t know how the flecks of feces are dissuading the hornets. One possibility is that they’re avoiding the noxious plant compounds that linger in some excrement. Mattila noted that the bees seemed to go especially bonkers for chicken droppings. And, of course, “poop is really smelly,” Bonoan said. Feces might act like a reverse deodorant, overlaying its foul stench atop the alluring waxy, floral scent that typically wafts from more pristine nests. Because spotting involves deliberate manipulation of manure, Mattila’s team argued that it might qualify as tool use. Bonoan said she wasn’t yet sold on the idea, noting that the feces might not be altered enough along the way. Known tool users like humans might be tempted to try and thwart giant hornets with slurries of scat, especially as concerns about invasive Vespa species continue to command national attention. While Asian giant hornets don’t typically pay humans much mind, they can occasionally deliver searingly painful, venom-laced stings. But there’s no guarantee that all giant hornets will shy away from dung, said Margarita López-Uribe, an entomologist at Pennsylvania State University who wasn’t involved in the study. Beekeepers also shouldn’t rush out to spray their hives with feces, which could contaminate the valuable honey within. Bees might benefit from fecal spotting, Bonoan said. But “if you’re a human, don’t use poop to try and protect yourself from a murder hornet.”

Menaced by Murder Hornets, bees decorate their hives with feces

Deadly sting: Killing the 'murder hornets' nests

Entomologists from the Washington State Department of Agriculture have located the first-ever Asian giant hornet, or "murder hornet", nest in the United States on a property in the town of Blaine.

Using a new type of trap, WSDA researchers tagged several captured hornets with radio trackers, which they used to lead them to the nest. The cavity of a tree found on private property was housing the nest.

First discovered in Washington state in December 2019, Asian giant hornets are an invasive species not native to the US. They are the world's largest hornet and prey on honey bees and other insects.&nbsp;

WSDA members plan to remove the tree on October 24.

Washington state in the US trapped its first "murder hornet" on July 14.

Up until now, five giant hornets had officially been sighted in the state.

The hope was to find the nest by mid-September before the colony begins creating new reproducing queens and drones.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-state-has-trapped-its-first-murder-hornet-317386">Also read |&nbsp;US state has trapped its first 'murder hornet'</a>

Entomologists from the Washington State Department of Agriculture have located the first-ever Asian giant hornet, or "murder hornet", nest in the United States on a property in the town of Blaine.

Entomologists from the Washington State Department of Agriculture have located the first-ever Asian giant hornet, or "murder hornet", nest in the United States on a property in the town of Blaine. Using a new type of trap, WSDA researchers tagged several captured hornets with radio trackers, which they used to lead them to the nest. The cavity of a tree found on private property was housing the nest. First discovered in Washington state in December 2019, Asian giant hornets are an invasive species not native to the US. They are the world's largest hornet and prey on honey bees and other insects. WSDA members plan to remove the tree on October 24. Washington state in the US trapped its first "murder hornet" on July 14. Up until now, five giant hornets had officially been sighted in the state. The hope was to find the nest by mid-September before the colony begins creating new reproducing queens and drones. Also read | US state has trapped its first 'murder hornet'

'Murder hornet' nest found in Washington said to be the first in US

Washington state in the US has trapped its first Asian giant hornet or the "murder hornet."

More than two inches long, the hornets get their nickname from their propensity to attack and kill honeybees and potentially, people.

Up until now, five giant hornets had officially been sighted in the state. This is the first one found in a trap.

Officials announced on Friday that they had identified the Asian giant hornet earlier this week from a trap collected near Birch Bay on July 14.

The state's agriculture department further plans to deploy special traps that will catch the hornets and keep them alive so they can be tagged and tracked back to their colonies. Once the agency finds the colonies, they'll destroy them.

The hope is to find the nest by mid-September before the colony begins creating new reproducing queens and drones, the statement said.

Washington state agricultural officials are now asking beekeepers and residents to report any sightings of the giant hornets. August and September are when they're most likely to be spotted.

Washington state in the US has trapped its first Asian giant hornet or the "murder hornet." More than two inches long, the hornets get their nickname from their propensity to attack and kill honeybees and potentially, people.

Washington state in the US has trapped its first Asian giant hornet or the "murder hornet." More than two inches long, the hornets get their nickname from their propensity to attack and kill honeybees and potentially, people. Up until now, five giant hornets had officially been sighted in the state. This is the first one found in a trap. Officials announced on Friday that they had identified the Asian giant hornet earlier this week from a trap collected near Birch Bay on July 14. The state's agriculture department further plans to deploy special traps that will catch the hornets and keep them alive so they can be tagged and tracked back to their colonies. Once the agency finds the colonies, they'll destroy them. The hope is to find the nest by mid-September before the colony begins creating new reproducing queens and drones, the statement said. Washington state agricultural officials are now asking beekeepers and residents to report any sightings of the giant hornets. August and September are when they're most likely to be spotted.

US state has trapped its first 'murder hornet'

After the Coronavirus outbreak, the United States now has a new problem to deal with - Asian giant hornets. WION's Palki Sharma tells you more.

Gravitas: After Coronavirus, US battles 'murder' hornets

The Asian giant hornet also known as the 'murder hornet' has been spotted in the United States for the first time. Watch report.

'Murder Hornets' seen for the first time in US: Biggest predators of honey bees

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