They always sounded like a campy horror movie trope to me. They came from a faraway place… Now they’re coming for you… MURDER HORNETS!
The media made a big deal about them when they first made their way to North America. But let’s face it: the world’s largest hornet that could potentially become an invasive species on our continent is ripe for media hype and paranoia. The original name, Asian giant hornet, sounded perfect for ginning up fear (not the “Asian” part, but we’ll get to that in a moment).
The hype was there as early as 2002. A National Geographic article from that year talked about “Hornets from Hell” and made these things sound like something from a dystopian horror film.
“A small but highly efficient killing machine—a hornet two inches long and with a wingspan up to three inches—lurks in the mountains of Japan,” wrote Brian Handwerk. “The voracious predator has a quarter-inch stinger that pumps out a dose of venom with an enzyme so strong it can dissolve human tissue.”
“Someone who is stung by the hornet and doesn't receive proper treatment soon thereafter can die from the venom, which is powerful enough to disintegrate human flesh,” Handwerk added. “About 40 people die each year after being stung by giant hornets, mainly as a result of an allergic reaction to the venom.”
The thing about all of this hype was that these hornets fed on other insects, including honeybees. They only stung humans when those humans threatened them.
Murder hornets first made their way to Nanaimo, British Columbia, in 2019. In the spring of 2020 — you know, as we were in the grips of COVID hysteria — a resident of Custer, Wash., discovered a dead Asian giant hornet on the road while on a walk. The curled-up dead hornet was slightly larger than a quarter.
Thus began the media frenzy. Articles and news reports discussed the threat of murder hornets. The memes of “who had murder hornets on their 2020 bingo card” flooded social media. People began to wonder if murder hornets were going to be a problem nationwide, much like my generation worried about the Bermuda Triangle or quicksand when we were kids.
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Scientists began to figure out how to rid our nation of the scourge of murder hornets, but first, there was a more urgent issue to tackle: the racism of the name. In a move that could only make sense in Biden-era America, entomologists were worried that the “Asian giant hornet” would exacerbate anti-Asian violence. For real.
The Entomological Society of America worked really, really, really hard to come up with a non-racist (anti-racist?) name for the murder hornet:
In 2021, ESA adopted new guidelines for acceptable insect common names, which bar names referring to ethnic or racial groups and names that might stoke fear; the policies also discourage geographic references, particularly for invasive species. The Society also launched the Better Common Names Project, an effort to review and replace insect common names that may be inappropriate or offensive. No common name for Vespa mandarinia has been previously adopted by ESA, and neither name used in popular discourse meets ESA's guidelines.
Entomologist Chris Looney, Ph.D., [No, seriously, the politically correct scientist is named Looney. —CQ] who is part of the Washington State Department of Agriculture team researching and attempting to eradicate the hornet, authored the common-name proposal submitted to ESA, citing the need for an accessible, accurate name to facilitate simple and inclusive public communication about the insect.
Amid a rise in hate crimes and discrimination against people of Asian descent, usage of "Asian" in the name of a pest insect can unintentionally bolster anti-Asian sentiment. And, from a taxonomic perspective, all hornets—22 species of wasps in the genus Vespa—are native or common to Asia, meaning "Asian giant hornet" does not convey unique information about the biology or behavior of the species Vespa mandarinia.
Entomologists settled on “northern giant hornet.” Never mind that nobody was enacting violence against Asians over the name of a hornet. Why couldn’t we have stuck with “murder hornet”? It’s an awfully bada** name.
Side note: We Southerners don’t take too kindly to the phrase “northern giant hornet.” We don’t want carpetbagging bugs from up North invading God’s country.
After half a decade of effort, we finally had some good news about Asian giant hornets northern giant hornets murder hornets. We’ve gotten rid of them!
“So-called murder hornets have been eradicated from the United States, officials announced Wednesday, five years after the invasive species was first identified in Washington state,” NBC reported on Wednesday.
“We’re pleased to announce the eradication of the northern giant hornet in Washington state,” Derek Sandison, director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA), said in a press release. “I’m incredibly proud of our team, which has dedicated years of hard work to safeguarding our state and the nation from this invasive threat to our native pollinators and agriculture. I’d also like to acknowledge the federal, state, and local support that made this feat possible. This success is the result of our combined efforts.”
“Without the public’s support for this effort, it is unlikely we would be announcing the eradication of northern giant hornet today,” Sven Spichiger, WSDA pest program manager, said. “All of our nest detections resulted directly or indirectly from public reports. And half of our confirmed detections came from the public. The people of Washington can be proud that we did this by working together.”
Curiously, nobody remarked about all the racism our brave scientists eliminated by changing the name. So much progress and no acknowledgment.
Nevertheless, it’s encouraging that we’ve gotten rid of murder hornets — for now. Should we prepare for a sequel? "Murder Hornets 2: Electric Boogaloo," coming soon to a theater near you.
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