Suspected 'murder hornet' found in Washington State

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A northern giant hornet, an invasive species native to Asia that’s capable of devastating local honeybee populations, was possibly found on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington State.

The northern giant hornet, sometimes nicknamed the “murder hornet,” is also the same species as the previously-spotted “Asian giant hornet,” but entomologists had settled on a new official name in 2022, the Associated Press reported at the time.

The sighting was reported through the Washington State Department of Agriculture website. The report included a photo of the insect next to a penny for scale.

“Found a long dead hornet in Port Orchard, Wash. in the windowsill of a house near Horseshoe Lake,” the report reads. “It is much larger than any I’ve ever seen before.”

The report prompted a concerning response from a WSDA entomologist, who unofficially confirmed the sighting.

“The specimen in the photo is a northern giant hornet,” the WSDA entomologist wrote. “The sighting will be confirmed once a physical specimen has been examined.”

The northern giant hornet found in the Burley area near Port Orchard, Wash. on Oct. 3, 2024. (Washington State Department of Agriculture)

The WSDA is asking local residents to keep an eye out for the bug. In December 2019, the WSDA received and verified two reports of northern giant hornets near Blaine, Wash., along the Canadian border. The giant hornet sightings were the first ever recorded in the U.S.

Since 2021, the WSDA has located and wiped out four northern giant hornet nests in Whatcom County. No hornets were detected in the U.S. in 2022 and 2023.

“[The] northern giant hornet attacks and destroys honeybee hives,” the WSDA website states. “A few hornets can destroy a hive in a matter of hours. The hornets can enter a ‘slaughter phase’ where they kill entire hives by decapitating the bees. The hornets then defend the hive as their own, taking the brood to feed their own young.”

Northern giant hornets are not known for attacking people or pets, the WSDA says. However, it may attack if threatened and can sting repeatedly. The hornet’s stinger is longer than the honeybee’s and its venom is more toxic. The northern giant hornet is the world’s largest hornet species.