By Phil Lester of
Photo: 123rf
New Zealand now has a genuine chance to stamp out one of the most damaging invasive insects to reach our shores: the Asian yellow-legged hornet.
But what happens over the next few months might just decide whether the species is eliminated or becomes established.
It has now been three months since the yellow-legged hornet was first detected in Auckland and the eradication response is showing real signs of progress.
So far,43 queen hornets have been found and killed in Auckland. Each one represents a nest that would otherwise have produced thousands of voracious workers, capable of consuming huge numbers of insects, including key pollinators such as honey bees.
Worse still, by autumn those same nests would have produced thousands of new queens.
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