It had already been seen once in France, and has just been detected in a bordering country. Hornets of oriental origin were spotted a few days ago for the first time in the port of Barcelona, Spain.
“Oriental wasps have been detected for the first time in Catalonia in the Port of Barcelona area,” local authorities reported on Twitter.
These hornets, called vespa orientalis, would have arrived by sea. “As in the case of other invasive species, the main route of entry of this wasp is the transport of goods,” specify the authorities.
Hornets recognizable by their color
These hornets are “medium sized”, slightly larger than Asian hornets and smaller than European hornets. They are recognizable by their color, “reddish brown with yellow spots on the head and two yellow bands on the abdomen,” the authorities write in a press release.
This species had already been detected at the end of September 2021 in France, in an industrial wasteland in Marseille. The Catalan Government recalls that it has also been seen in Valencia in 2012 and 2020, in the south of Andalusia in 2018, or even in Madrid a little earlier this year.
A “fearsome predator”
And watch out for bites, because they would be “painful,” according to the site. But if these hornets are no more dangerous to humans than any other species, they pose a serious threat to biodiversity, and to beekeeping and agriculture in particular.
“It’s dangerous for bees,” Gérard Filippi, one of the entomologists who discovered the hornet in Marseille, told BFM Marseille Provence microphone last year.
What to qualify it according to the specialist, of “fearsome predator”.
Source: BFM TV
