Mini radio tags help track ‘murder hornets’ and other invasive insects
By Claudia Geib The yellow-legged hornet is a predator: after it sets up a nest in a new neighborhood, its workers head out in search of smaller wasps, flies and bees to feed the hive’s growing brood. One of its favorite snacks is honey bees. Lingering outside a hive, these hornets, Vespa velutina, capture flying honey bees mid-air, stopping on their way home only to chew the bee up into pellets to feed their young. In the hornets’ native range across Southeast Asia, local bee species have evolved defenses against the yellow-legged hornet’s attacks. But in Europe and the United States, native ...