The Yellow-Legged Hornet Invasion: From One Georgia Sighting to 50+ Nests

Photo: Gilles San Martin, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A Savannah beekeeper found an unusual hornet on his property in August 2023. He photographed it and reported it to the Georgia Department of Agriculture. The image made its way to University of Georgia entomologists, who confirmed what shouldn't have been possible.

Vespa velutina. Yellow-legged hornet. Native to Southeast Asia. Established across most of Europe since its accidental introduction to France in 2004. Never before detected alive in the open United States.

By the time cold weather arrived in November 2023, Georgia Department of Agriculture teams had located and destroyed five nests, all within the Savannah area near Thunderbolt and Wilmington Island. South Carolina confirmed its first detection that same month - a single specimen in Jasper County, less than five miles from the Georgia border.

The containment window had already closed.

By August 2024, inspectors had destroyed 50 additional nests across Georgia and South Carolina. Some operations reported losing entire apiaries to hornet predation within days. The invasion that beekeepers in France, Spain, and Britain had struggled to contain for two decades was now unfolding in the American Southeast.

How Bee Hawks Hunt

Yellow-legged hornets don't forage randomly. They identify productive bee colonies and station themselves at hive entrances, hovering in place while they wait. When a forager returns laden with pollen or nectar, the hornet strikes mid-flight, capturing the bee with its legs.

The kill happens quickly. The hornet butchers the bee in the air, usually keeping only the thorax - the section containing the most protein-rich flight muscles. The head, abdomen, wings, and legs drop to the ground. The thorax returns to the hornet nest to feed developing larvae.

European researchers call this behavior "hawking." A single hornet can capture 25-50 bees per day. When a colony discovers a productive apiary, multiple hornets begin hunting the same hives. French studies documented 30% of surveyed hives experiencing attacks, with some operations reporting complete colony losses.

The predation creates cascading effects beyond direct bee mortality. Foragers that witness attacks become reluctant to leave the hive. Colony members stop collecting nectar and pollen. The queen's egg-laying slows. Even if hornets don't kill enough bees to collapse the colony outright, the stress and disrupted foraging often prove fatal by winter.

A Beaufort County, South Carolina beekeeper videoed this exact behavior in August 2024 - hornets systematically hunting his honeybees at hive entrances. He alerted Clemson University's Department of Plant Industry. Inspectors found and destroyed multiple secondary nests in the area, the first such nests confirmed in South Carolina.

The Expansion Pattern

The timeline reveals how quickly establishment occurs once queens begin overwintering successfully.

August 2023: First US detection near Savannah, Georgia Fall 2023: Five nests destroyed in Georgia before winter November 2023: First South Carolina detection in Jasper County April 2024: Embryo nest found in Beaufort County, SC Spring-Summer 2024: 21 queens captured in Georgia; 258 queens captured in South Carolina August 2024: Five nests destroyed in Savannah in a single two-day period (August 13-14) August 2024: Multiple secondary nests destroyed near Hilton Head Island By August 2025: Over 50 nests total across both states

The geographic spread shows similar acceleration. Initial detections clustered tightly around Savannah - Chatham County specifically, with some expansion into Bryan, Effingham, and Liberty counties. The Georgia epicenter near Thunderbolt and Wilmington Island likely represents the original introduction point, possibly via shipping containers arriving at the Port of Savannah.

From there, the species radiated. The closest corner of Effingham County sits approximately 18 miles from the Savannah epicenter. Liberty County detections occurred roughly 25 miles away. By 2024, yellow-legged hornets had colonized an estimated 350 square miles in Georgia alone.

South Carolina's infestation followed a different pattern. Rather than spreading gradually from the Georgia border, the species appeared to establish independently around Hilton Head Island and Beaufort County - approximately 100 square miles colonized by 2024. This suggests either multiple introduction events or queens dispersing during their documented 30-45 mile spring flights before settling to build nests.

The Spring Vulnerability Window

The hornet lifecycle creates a specific opportunity for control. Most colony members die each November. Only recently mated queens survive, entering dormancy in sheltered locations - tree cavities, leaf litter, building eaves.

These queens emerge in spring when temperatures rise consistently above 55°F. They feed on tree sap while their ovaries develop, then begin constructing embryo nests - smooth, spherical structures roughly tennis ball-sized, typically built in protected locations like porches, shed eaves, or low bushes.

The queen works alone during this phase, laying eggs that will become the first workers. For several weeks, the entire future colony depends on one individual. If that queen dies, the lineage ends.

This created the strategic focus for 2024 and 2025 containment efforts. Georgia deployed 170 traps in 2024, then increased to approximately 1,000 traps for 2025. South Carolina placed 1,142 traps across Beaufort, Jasper, Colleton, and Hampton counties. The traps use protein-based baits (often fish or cat food) to attract foraging queens.

The 2025 trapping season captured 258 queens in South Carolina alone before they could establish nests. Clemson inspectors also located and removed nine embryo nests - small enough to confirm that intervention happened before worker production began.

Georgia's results showed similar patterns. Mike Evans, GDA Plant Protection Program Director, described the strategy: "We put out 170 traps last year. We want to put out around a thousand this year and be sure that we have good trapping density around the area."

But the spring window closes quickly. By June, worker hornets emerge and colonies enter rapid expansion mode. Embryo nests evolve into primary nests (softball to watermelon-sized), then secondary nests that can exceed basketball dimensions and house up to 6,000 workers.

Secondary nests typically relocate high into trees - often 60+ feet up - making detection and removal significantly more difficult. The nests found and destroyed in August 2024 represented this mature phase, suggesting that many queens had escaped the spring trapping efforts.

Why Eradication Gets Harder

Dr. Gard W. Otis, Professor Emeritus at the University of Guelph and expert on yellow-legged hornet spread, noted the challenge in a 2025 Bee Culture article: "Spring is the period in the life cycle of the YLH when queens emerge from their winter diapause and disperse. It is estimated from studies in Europe that some young queens fly as far as 30-45 miles before settling and initiating nests."

That dispersal range creates containment problems. A single missed nest in fall produces dozens to hundreds of queens. Those queens hibernate through winter, then disperse in a 30-45 mile radius the following spring. The colonized area expands geometrically rather than linearly.

The 2023 detection in August meant hornets had already been reproducing unnoticed for most of the summer. Those colonies produced the queens that overwintered and emerged in spring 2024. Even aggressive fall nest destruction couldn't prevent 2024 expansion because queens from undetected 2023 nests had already dispersed.

European containment efforts documented this pattern repeatedly. France initially treated yellow-legged hornets as a potential eradication target when first detected in 2004. By 2010, the species had colonized most of western France. By 2020, it occupied the entire country plus significant portions of Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.

Britain maintained more aggressive control, destroying over 70 nests in 2023 and 72 nests in 2024. By 2025, authorities were using radio transmitters attached to captured hornets to locate nests more efficiently. The UK considered the species a "significant threat" requiring sustained management rather than eradication.

The Detection Problem

Finding nests before they produce queens requires either extremely systematic searching or dependence on public reporting. The Georgia and South Carolina programs rely heavily on both.

Trapping provides geographic data on queen presence but doesn't directly reveal nest locations. When a trap captures a hornet, inspectors know there's likely a nest within the insect's 1-kilometer foraging radius. But locating a football-sized paper nest 60 feet up in the canopy of a mature oak requires either exceptional luck or methodical tracking.

European researchers developed the radio-tracking approach now being deployed in Britain and tested in South Carolina. Inspectors capture a live hornet, attach a small transmitter, and release it. The hornet returns to its nest. Triangulation from multiple release points narrows the search area.

The method works but scales poorly. Each tracked hornet requires capture equipment, transmitters, multiple personnel for triangulation, and favorable weather for flight tracking. Commercial beekeepers report dozens of hornets attacking their hives simultaneously. Tracking them individually would consume resources faster than most state programs possess.

Public reporting becomes essential. Citizens who notice unusual hornets or large paper nests provide the most efficient detection network. The challenge involves distinguishing yellow-legged hornets from numerous native lookalikes.

The Lookalike Problem

The most commonly misidentified species include:

Cicada killers (Sphecius speciosus) - Large, yellow-and-black wasps that nest in ground burrows. Considerably bigger than yellow-legged hornets, usually 1.5-2 inches long compared to the hornet's 0.7-1 inch. Ground-nesting behavior differs completely from tree-nesting hornets.

Bald-faced hornets (Dolichovespula maculata) - Native social wasps that build large paper nests similar to yellow-legged hornet nests. Coloration differs significantly: bald-faced hornets show black and white, not black and yellow/orange. The nest shape matches, though, causing frequent confusion.

Paper wasps (Polistes species) - Multiple native species with yellow and black coloring. All considerably smaller than yellow-legged hornets and build exposed, umbrella-shaped nests rather than enclosed spherical structures.

European hornets (Vespa crabro) - Introduced species, established in eastern US since 1800s. Similar size to yellow-legged hornets but with brown and yellow coloring rather than black and orange. Nest entrance typically at bottom rather than side.

Queen yellowjackets (Vespula species) - Spring queens searching for nest sites get reported frequently. Much smaller than yellow-legged hornets and lack the distinctive orange abdominal band.

The distinguishing features require close observation. Yellow-legged hornets display:

• Dark thorax (velvety black or brownish-black)
• Single, wide orange-yellow band on the fourth abdominal segment
• Dark legs with bright yellow tips (the "yellow-legged" characteristic)
• Orange face when viewed head-on
• Body length approximately 0.7-1 inch (workers), 1.2 inches (queens)

South Carolina's reporting system logged the top five misidentified species: cicada killers, European hornets, paper wasps, yellowjackets, and yellowjacket queens. The volume of false reports consumed inspector time but remained necessary - the cost of missing actual hornet detections exceeded the cost of checking false alarms.

What Europe's Experience Predicts

The European spread offers the clearest preview of what American beekeepers face if containment fails.

France reported 30% of surveyed hives under attack in regions with established hornet populations. Studies of hornet diet composition showed nearly 70% consisted of honeybees and similar pollinators in certain areas. Commercial beekeepers adapted by:

• Installing hive entrance guards (restricted openings that exclude hornets while permitting bee passage)
• Deploying trap lines around apiaries
• Accepting higher colony losses as normal operating conditions
• Increasing colony replacement rates to compensate for predation
• Abandoning some marginal locations where predation made beekeeping unviable

None of these adaptations eliminated the problem. They reduced losses to manageable levels for operations with sufficient resources. Hobbyist beekeepers with a few hives often found the additional labor and expense unsustainable.

British beekeepers reported similar patterns. The species reached most of southern England by 2025, with established populations around major port cities and expanding inland. The National Bee Unit coordinated nest destruction efforts while acknowledging that complete eradication appeared unlikely given the invasion's geographic scope and the insect's dispersal capability.

The American Context

The US beekeeping industry enters this crisis from a position of severe existing stress. Commercial operations lost 62% of colonies between June 2024 and February 2025 - the highest rate ever recorded - primarily due to varroa mite-vectored viruses and treatment resistance.

Adding yellow-legged hornet predation to operations already struggling with parasitic mites, viral diseases, pesticide exposure, nutritional stress, and climate disruption creates compounding vulnerabilities. European beekeepers managing yellow-legged hornet pressure don't simultaneously face 60% annual colony losses from other causes.

The species' establishment in the Southeast positions it near major beekeeping regions but not yet within them. Georgia ranks among the top honey-producing states. Florida's beekeeping industry supplies package bees and queens to operations nationwide. North Carolina hosts significant commercial pollination operations.

If yellow-legged hornets expand beyond their current Georgia-South Carolina range, they'll encounter dense concentrations of managed colonies. The dispersal pattern suggests northward and westward expansion appears more likely than southward movement, given the species' subtropical origins and apparent establishment success in Georgia's coastal climate.

The Eradication Debate

Dr. Otis concluded his analysis with a stark assessment: "2025 provides regulatory officials the last opportunity to contain this invasive bee predator. In fact, it may already be too late."

The logic involves timing and resources. If queens from 2024 nests dispersed across a 350-square-mile area in Georgia and a 100-square-mile area in South Carolina, then 2025 required detecting and destroying potentially hundreds of new nests before they produced the next generation. The trapping numbers suggest partial success - 258 queens captured in South Carolina represents 258 potential colonies prevented.

But the appearance of nine embryo nests and the discovery of multiple secondary nests indicates that many queens escaped trapping. Each secondary nest found in August represents a queen that successfully established in spring, evaded detection through summer, and likely produced dozens of daughter queens before discovery.

Those 2025 queens are hibernating now. They'll emerge in spring 2026 across an area potentially 30-45 miles beyond the current boundaries. The colonized zone expands while regulatory resources remain essentially fixed.

Georgia increased trapping from 170 to 1,000 deployments. South Carolina placed 1,142 traps. Both states hired additional temporary personnel. Federal USDA-APHIS personnel supported the efforts. Yet European experience suggests that once hornets colonize several hundred square miles, complete eradication requires either detection rates approaching 100% (which no program has achieved) or population-level interventions like sterile insect releases (which don't yet exist for Vespa velutina).

The alternative shifts from eradication to management. Accepting establishment means helping beekeepers adapt - developing effective entrance guards, identifying the most vulnerable apiaries, documenting regional predation patterns, and potentially reconsidering apiary locations in high-pressure zones.

What Beekeepers Are Doing

Greg Stewart, president of the Coastal Empire Beekeepers Association in the Savannah area, described the membership's response: "We got educated on what to look for, how to observe at our bee colony, and then if we caught, captured or killed anything, we would immediately contact [the GDA], and they would come out right away."

The club partnered with Patrick Wilbanks of Wilbanks Apiaries, who provided nets and containers to members. The University of Georgia's Timothy Davis conducted training sessions on hornet identification and monitoring. The Georgia Department of Agriculture established an online reporting form and maintained rapid response protocols.

This collaborative approach produced results - citizen reports led to the discovery of several 2024 nests. But the system depends on beekeepers knowing what to watch for, recognizing unusual predator behavior, and reporting quickly enough for intervention before nest maturation.

Not all beekeepers maintain that level of vigilance. Commercial operations moving hives for pollination contracts may not notice predation until colony health declines. Hobbyists checking hives weekly or biweekly might miss the critical window when hornet hunting begins but before nest location becomes difficult.

By August 2025

The containment effort continues. Georgia and South Carolina maintain trap networks. Clemson University's Honeybee Protection Program monitors approximately 1,142 traps while encouraging public reporting. North Carolina has begun preparing for potential spread, training inspectors and establishing reporting protocols despite having no confirmed detections yet.

The optimistic interpretation suggests that intensive spring trapping significantly reduced 2025 nest establishment, buying additional time for eradication efforts. The 258 queens captured in South Carolina alone represent substantial population suppression.

The realistic interpretation acknowledges that some fraction of queens escaped detection, established nests, and produced the next generation. The species has now completed two full reproductive cycles in the American Southeast. Genetic diversity increases with each generation as different colony lineages produce queens that interbreed. The population grows more resilient to localized control efforts.

The two-year window from first detection to potential establishment mirrors European patterns remarkably closely. France detected yellow-legged hornets in 2004. By 2006, they occupied multiple regions. Eradication attempts ended by 2010 when the species had spread too broadly for feasible containment.

Britain's more aggressive response - deploying dedicated tracking teams and maintaining systematic nest destruction protocols - may provide a better model. But Britain's program operates on an island with natural dispersal barriers that the American Southeast lacks. A hornet queen can't accidentally board a ferry from England to France, but she can disperse 40 miles inland from Hilton Head without crossing water.

The next spring emergence season will reveal whether containment remains possible or whether American beekeepers join their European colleagues in learning to operate under permanent yellow-legged hornet pressure.

The species that devastated French apiaries. The predator that British authorities call a "significant threat." The invasive hornet that European beekeepers couldn't contain despite two decades of effort.

It started with one beekeeper noticing an unusual insect and bothering to photograph it.

Two years later, it had colonized 450 square miles across two states.