Museum to murder hornets: How SEL support enables rapid field responses to potential invasions

Multiple sightings of an unknown hornet species were reported by the public in British Columbia and Washington State in 2019. Physical specimens collected in Washington were quickly identified as Vespa mandarinia Smith, 1852 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) by SEL entomologists, affording state and federal collaborators time to review the animal’s biology and develop multi-year project to prevent its establishment in North America. Surveys employing traps and robust public-reporting have been ongoing since 2020, enabling destruction of four V. mandarinia nests in the United States by 2021. No hornets have been detected since 2021. SEL support has also enabled us to rapidly respond to the presence of Anthonomus rubi (Herbst, 1795) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in western WA, enhanced field research documenting the range and community structure of Drosophilia suzukii parasitoids, and was critical to developing an online sawfly (Hymenotpera: Symphyta) identification tool.