The (Centralia) Chronicle

The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) has trapped a male Asian giant hornet — the first to be detected in the United States.

The hornet was caught in a WSDA Asian giant hornet bottle trap near Custer in Whatcom County, where a mated queen was found dead earlier this year and a suspected bee kill was reported in 2019. The trap was collected on July 29 and processed in WSDA’s entomology lab on August 13.

“Trapping a male Asian giant hornet in July initially came as a surprise,” Sven Spichiger, WSDA managing entomologist said. “But further examination of the research and consultation with international experts confirmed that a few males can indeed emerge early in the season.”

WSDA will be setting live traps in the area in an attempt to trap a live Asian giant hornet, tag it, and track it back to its nest. If WSDA is able to locate a nest, the agency will eradicate it.

This is the second Asian giant hornet caught in a WSDA trap. The first was caught on July 14. Entomologists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) subsequently identified that hornet as an unmated queen. The two trapped specimens bring the total number of Asian giant hornets detected in the state to seven — all of them in Whatcom County.

Citizens have placed more than 1,400 traps throughout the state. If a citizen traps a live Asian giant hornet, they should call the WSDA Pest Program hotline at 1-800-443-6684. For more information, go to agr.wa.gov/hornets.