PENNSYLVANIA, USA — As you step outside this summer for your cookouts and vacations, you're likely to encounter some black and yellow bugs flying around.
A FOX43 viewer sent in the photo below, claiming to show an Asian Giant Hornet, more commonly referred to as a "murder hornet", and saying they are all over Franklin and Fulton Counties.
The giant insect was first discovered in the western United States back in 2020.
THE QUESTION
Does the photo below depict a "murder hornet", and are they found in Pennsylvania?
OUR SOURCES
Michael Skvarla at the Insect Identification Laboratory at Penn State University
North Carolina State University’s Entomology Extension
WHAT WE FOUND
"There have been no northern giant hornets or 'murder hornets' found in Pennsylvania, or the eastern United States more generally," Skvarla said.
In fact, the only known "murder hornets" are in a small 30 square mile area of Washington State and British Columbia.
However, these large insects do resemble a wasp that is native to Pennsylvania.
"Almost every wasp that people are mistaking for murder Hornets or Northern Giant Hornets in Pennsylvania are European Hornets," Skvarla stated. "They're similarly patterned, but the patterns are different when you look closely."
That includes the photo from Page Delaney in Franklin County.
North Carolina State’s Entomology extension provides an online guide comparing the "murder hornets" to other insects, including the other large wasps you may come across.
"The other large wasps that we have in the area are cicada killers," Skvarla said.
While they nest in the ground like "murder hornets", Eastern Cicada Killers have a noticeably different color pattern and nest alone.
So no, those giant wasps in your backyard are not "murder hornets", but rather European Hornets and Eastern Cicada Killers.
Skvarla says even if you’re unsure, it’s important to still send in those photos to officials.
"If they think it is a Northern Giant Hornet or a 'murder hornet', please send those in," Skvarla said. "We do need to be on the lookout if they do get introduced.”
You can report suspected “murder hornets” by emailing badbug@pa.gov.