Georgia’s Most Wanted: the Yellow-Legged Hornet and how you can help

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — The Georgia Department of Agriculture, GDA, is learning and taking steps to eliminate a new invasive species in Georgia, the Yellow-Legged Hornet.

“The concern is with honey bees and native pollinators because they are a pest of honey bees,” said Mike Evans, Department of the Georgia Agriculture Plant Protection Program Director.

“Honey bees do have a lot of pest issues and they don’t need to deal with another pest issue.”

Leading the charge to protect Georgia from invasive species like the Yellow-Legged Hornet, YLH, Evans shares the strategies and tactics used to capture these hornets.

They trap these animals by deploying Bucket Traps which often contain a mixture of grape juice and brown sugar.

Why sugars?

“The hornets will go to that because the adults want to eat carbohydrate sugars,” said Evans.

Placed in fields and near manmade structures, bucket traps have a small hole at the top where the hornets enter to eat the sugars but can’t find their way out.

Since the larvae rely on protein to survive adult YLHs go to hunt for bees which are a rich source of protein for them, this led Evan’s team to try a new method.

“We’ll try fish. We actually did have success with one nest, finding it because they were feeding on fish. And so we were able to track that back,” said Evans.

When a hornet gets trapped and found, the team attaches RFID trackers on the hornet, when released the YLH will lead the staff directly to the nest.

They also use wing frequency sensors to recognize the unique frequency of the YLH’s wingbeats.

Using this method from August 2023 to April 2024, GDA reports that there have been over 224 traps deployed in the field with 7 nests eradicated to date.

With the help of local businesses like the Yates-Astro Termite & Pest Control, there are more hands in the field to take nests down properly and safely.

They work in tandem with GDA to locate, track and exterminate YLH nests in Savannah and along the coast.

How you can help

“I mean, that’s so important to have the public extra sets of eyes helping us out,” said Evans.

If you see one of the traps with a hornet, report it immediately to GDA , also if you see a nest, do not attempt to destroy a nest.

While destroying the nest seems to be the straightforward option to eliminate these insects, if you don’t kill the queen , another nest will appear.

The biggest struggle the public has is how to identify YLH.

“So, there are many different species and so many different kinds that it’s kind of hard to specifically identify them,” said Evans.

While called the Yellow-Legged Hornet, their legs are not completely yellow , only the last third of the leg is yellow, they also have a wide band of yellow across their abdomen.

You can also help by making traps:

Any and everyone can help elevate this issue as GDA plans to deploy 1,000 traps this year.

“Beekeepers are important, the general public, bird watchers, pest control, lawn care, just regular citizens who are just interested are important in helping protect agriculture, which is our number one industry in the state,” said Evans.