How likely is this to be true?

[ShinySideUp]

https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/03/murder-hornets-spotted-us-first-time-12649564/


Edit: Apparently it is:

https://a-z-animals.com/animals/asian-giant-hornet/

 

[Ian123]

What bits not likely to be true?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

been discussed on here over the weekend - check the bees in the media setion. It's been all over the papers. Here and the US

 

[thorn]

This would seem to be a different Asian hornet from the one we've been worrying about for the last few years. Our Asian hornet is smaller than our native hornet. This one is larger. Hopefully, it'll be happy in the USA, and stay there.

 

[pargyle]

This would seem to be a different Asian hornet from the one we've been worrying about for the last few years. Our Asian hornet is smaller than our native hornet. This one is larger. Hopefully, it'll be happy in the USA, and stay there.

Ain't it always the case ... everything in the USA is always bigger than it is over here ...

 

[Newbeeneil]

It seems the press just love to get a story out without looking into it as always This one is the Japanese giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia japonica) and not the Asian hornet (Vespa velutina)
As someone said over the weekend.... you have to love em!

 

[Popparand]

It seems the press just love to get a story out without looking into it as always This one is the Japanese giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia japonica) and not the Asian hornet (Vespa velutina)
As someone said over the weekend.... you have to love em!

So it's a kami kazi Asian hornet. Even worse!

 

[ShinySideUp]

What bits not likely to be true?

At first I thought it was a joke, like that picture of the giant rat which turned out to be photo trickery (I hope), hence my original question.

It seems the press just love to get a story out without looking into it as always This one is the Japanese giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia japonica) and not the Asian hornet (Vespa velutina)
As someone said over the weekend.... you have to love em!

Nevertheless, if they are really that big we don't want them here. Mind you, at that size we'll be able to knock 'em out of the air with a cricket bat and no one is going to mistake them for a wasp.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

finding the nests is fairly easy though - they just catch one, tie a ribbon to it then release it and follow it home

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

There's videos on YouTube of these hornets decimating bee colonies and one showing how bees can lure scout hornets into the hive in order to ball them. The hornets die at temperatures just a little less than the bees do.

 

[Erichalfbee]

There's videos on YouTube of these hornets decimating bee colonies

More than decimating, even

 

[ShinySideUp]

More than decimating, even

Do I spot a fellow pedant?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Do I spot a fellow pedant?

Probably!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

More than decimating, even

Or as Kinnock (senior, not the apprentice parasite) once said in a speech.
'they were dessicated'

 

[Newbeeneil]

Do I spot a fellow pedant?

Oh, it's so nice to see fellow pedants.... decimated is such a badly used word.

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

Ok - I'm at a loss here. Decimate means kill, destroy, wipe out.
What am I missing?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ok - I'm at a loss here. Decimate means kill, destroy, wipe out.
What am I missing?

Decimate means reduce or destroy by a tenth. The clue is in the “Deci” bit.
It’s commonly used instead of annihilate

 

[Ian123]

It was a term used to describe a form of punishment inflicted on Roman legions.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Decimate means reduce or destroy by a tenth. The clue is in the “Deci” bit.
It’s commonly used instead of annihilate

But back to the OP - quite a few American 'beekeepers' that follow me on facebook has cast doubt on the story.
.......................But then again, they also think Trump is a stable genius, the world is flat, coronavirus is a communist fraud to wreck the economy and give everyone free healthcare at the point of need and the six feet rule (they don't use metres - that's another communist plot)is just a trick to make people stand far enough apart for the alien tractor beam to catch us and suck us up into their spaceshils

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

Decimate means reduce or destroy by a tenth. The clue is in the “Deci” bit.
It’s commonly used instead of annihilate

Thanks Dani, every day IS a school day