'Asian giant hornet' renamed as 'northern giant hornet'

This is the Queen of the giant hornets

Do you know what this insect is? Its Latin name is vespa mandarinia, but it's more commonly known as a 'murder hornet' or 'Asian giant hornet'.

But now experts from the Entomological Society of America (ESA), who study insect and other animals, are asking people to use a new name: northern giant hornet.

It's said the new name will be more accurate and will avoid feeding into anti-Asian prejudice.

The hornets are native to Asia, but they say the "northern" part of the name points to the hornet's natural range in the northern parts of Asia.

Hornets are an insect many people aren't fond of, and can in some cases be quite fearful of.

Hornets can attack bees and in rare cases also cause injury to humans. Scientists are concerned they could devastate already fragile honeybee populations.

As a result, people had been worried that some might have a negative perception of Asian people too.

ESA president Jessica Ware said: "Northern giant hornet is both scientifically accurate and easy to understand, and it avoids evoking fear or discrimination."

The new name was suggested by Washington State Department of Agriculture entomologist Chris Looney, who has been working to eradicate the hornet from the US.

Other names suggested were Vespa soror (southern giant hornet) and Vespa velutina (yellow-legged hornet). The southern giant hornet is a close relative of the northern giant hornet.

The renaming meets new guidelines adopted by ESA in 2021, which ban racial and ethnic names and discourage geographic region names, especially for invasive species.

An invasive species is one that that typically causes ecological harm when it is introduced to a new environment where it wouldn't have been naturally occurring.