- The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) or northern giant hornet, including the color form referred to as the Japanese giant hornet, is the world’s largest hornet. It is native to temperate and tropical East Asia, South Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia, and parts of the Russian Far East. It was also found in the Pacific Northwest of North America in late 2019 with a few more additional sightings in 2020, and nests found in 2021, prompting concern that it could become an invasive species. However, by the end of the season in November 2022, there were no confirmed sightings in North America at all, suggesting they may have been eradicated in that region.
- Africanized bee (Wikipedia)
The Africanized bee, also known as the Africanized honey bee (AHB) and colloquially as the “killer bee”, is a hybrid of the western honey bee (Apis mellifera), produced originally by crossbreeding of the East African lowland honey bee (A. m. scutellata) with various European honey bee subspecies such as the Italian honey bee (A. m. ligustica) and the Iberian honey bee (A. m. iberiensis).
- A male hornet was captured in Custer, Washington in July 2020.
- One queen sighting in June 2020, from Bellingham, Washington, 24 km (15 mi) south of Custer
- A hornet of unknown caste was reported in August 2020, in Birch Bay, and another was trapped in the same area the following day.
- An unmated queen was trapped in July 2020, near Birch Bay, Washington, 10 km (6 mi) west of Custer.
- In August 2019, three [Asian Giant] hornets were found in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, and a large nest was found and destroyed shortly thereafter [Sept 2019]
- Two specimens were collected in May 2020, one from Langley, British Columbia, about 13 kilometres (8 miles) north of Blaine, and one from Custer, Washington, 14 km (9 mi) southeast of Blaine.