SCIENTISTS have sounded the alarm over an “extra threat” posed by giant Asian hornets invading Britain.
Experts have been battling to keep the frightening pests out of the country amid a growing number of sightings across Europe in recent years.
Asian hornets don’t tend to be aggressive unless they sense their own nest is threatened, in which case they can reportedly charge in a group – and their stings can be deadly.
They have distinctive yellow legs and an orange head.
There were 45 confirmed sightings of yellow-legged hornets in the UK last year.
A number of nests were found and later destroyed.
The menace is known for eating bees and can demolish their hives in a matter of hours.
But experts have found that it’s not only bees at threat.
A study into their eating habits found a whooping 1,400 different species in the guts of Asian hornets.
“Our study provides important additional evidence of the threat posed by Asian hornets as they spread across Europe,” explained Dr Peter Kennedy, from Exeter’s Environment and Sustainability Institute.
Although the European honey bee was the most common species found in the hornets – appearing in all sampled nests and almost all larvae within those nests – it’s been revealed that their diet is a lot broader than previously believed.
Eaten prey included also included wasps, flies, beetles, butterflies, moths and spiders.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Asian hornet Queen builds terrifying ‘mother nest’ in UK town” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6353439467112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]Researchers from the University of Exeter tested Asian hornet samples from France, Spain, Jersey and the UK throughout the hornet’s active season.
“Asian hornets are known to prey on honey bees, but until now the full range of their diet hasn’t been tested,” said Siffreya Pedersen, lead author on the study.
“The diet varied strongly over the seasons and between regions, showing that they are highly flexible predators.”
Experts managed to identify 1,449 “operational taxonomic units” in the guts of hornet larvae.
More than half could be identified as specific species, but the rest could not – so the exact number of species found in the samples is not certain.
The research was published in the Science of the Total Environment journal.