Murder hornets resurface in Washington state and Canada

They’re baaaaack.

Murder hornets have resurfaced in Washington state and appear to have reached British Columbia in Canada, in what experts fear is a sign the invasive insect has been circulating more widely than previously suspected.

Entomologists in Washington got a report earlier this week of a dead hornet found on a roadway near Custer, leading the state’s Department of Agriculture to say it appeared to be an Asian giant hornet, the New York Times reports.

Researchers are planning to collect the dead insect to confirm the potentially troubling find, the newspaper reports. A necropsy of the insect to determine whether it was a queen is planned for sometime next week.

Meanwhile, several miles north in Langley, British Columbia, one of the aggressive hornets that can measure up to 2 inches long was found earlier this month.

A woman killed the insect at her home, roughly eight miles away from where two dead giant hornets were first found late last year near Blaine, Washington, the Times reports.

The Washington find and the discovery of another live nest in Canada, on Vancouver Island, last fall set off a frenzy of reports about the potential impact of the massive insects that can decapitate honeybees in seconds.

Since then, American entomologists have been placing traps throughout northwestern Washington while traps have also been placed along the US-Canada border and in White Rock, British Columbia, the Times reports.

But the latest Canadian discovery indicates researchers may need to expand the scope of their work further north.

“This particular insect has acquired a larger distribution area at this time than we had thought,” Paul van Westendorp, a provincial beekeeper for British Columbia, told the newspaper.

Earlier this week, fake signs warning of the presence of murder hornets starting showing up along hiking trails in Washington state. The warnings led wildlife officials in the state to shut down the rumors and remove signs from nature trails following several reports, state Department of Agriculture officials said.