BOSTON – A “more aggressive” species of yellowjackets has been spotted in Massachusetts and other places in New England.
An expert with decades of experience with yellowjackets told WFSB-TV that he has recently been removing hives of the angry southern yellowjackets, or vespula squamosa, from Connecticut homes. Norm Patterson estimates the species makes up five to ten percent of that state’s yellowjacket population.
A New England researcher says there have been a couple sightings of the stinging insects in Massachusetts and Rhode Island this summer, thanks to rising global temperatures .
” Climate change is going north so they’re following that,” said Gale Ridge, an insect scientist with the state of Connecticut. “Now they’ve clearly been able to establish in southern Massachusetts.”
Southern yellowjackets “have a shorter fuse”
While a hive’s level of hostility can vary depending on the queen, Ridge told WBZ-TV that southern yellowjackets are believed to be more aggressive than those that are typically found in the region.