PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) — A northern giant hornet, an invasive species native to Asia that’s capable of devastating local honeybee populations, was possibly found on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington State.
The northern giant hornet, sometimes nicknamed the “murder hornet,” is also the same species as the previously-spotted “Asian giant hornet ,” but entomologists had settled on a new official name in 2022, the Associated Press reported at the time.
The sighting was reported through the Washington State Department of Agriculture website . The report included a photo of the insect next to a penny for scale.
“Found a long dead hornet in Port Orchard, Wash. in the windowsill of a house near Horseshoe Lake,” the report reads. “It is much larger than any I’ve ever seen before.”
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The report prompted a concerning response from a WSDA entomologist, who unofficially confirmed the sighting.
“The specimen in the photo is a northern giant hornet,” the WSDA entomologist wrote. “The sighting will be confirmed once a physical specimen has been examined.”