THE ASIAN FRELON INVADED FRANCE

A nest of 2000 Asian hornets was reported in Millau Thursday morning in

the city. Arrived in the Lot-et-Garonne in 2004, the species is now
proliferating in a forty French departments. A tragedy for many beekeepers,
including the bees are targeted by the animal.

The Asian Hornet is now attacking cities. It's right in the city center of
Millau, than 2000 individuals of this species, also known as the "yellow-
legged hornet" were landmarks. A large nest had been built in a poplar tree
twenty meters high. This insect, resembling a large wasp, and which
proliferated so far in the regions rural areas of South-West France, is
therefore entering the agglomerations. A new proof of its fulgurating
invasion of our territory. The species would not yet never had to appear in
France, and probably owes the arrival of his first members to an
unfortunate combination of circumstances.

The "velutina vespa", recognizable by its brown thorax and its orange spots
on the head and the abdomen, lived before the year 2004 only on the Asian
continent, from Indonesia to India, via China. That year, it's in a cargo of
pottery from the country to Tonneins, in the Lot-et-Garonne, that Asian
hornets have landed here. Three years later, more than 2000 nests were
already identified in the Bordeaux region, and today they are on the
doorstep from Paris.

A high-speed proliferation that should not weaken in the coming months,

according to a statement issued by the National Museum of Natural History:

"most European countries have a significant risk of seeing the yellow-legged
hornet acclimatize. " This is already the case in Spain and Italy. For the
man, his bites are a bit more painful than wasps or bees. They are not

in principle not fatal, unless mucous membranes are affected, or if

allergies. If people have already succumbed to an Asian hornet sting, this

insect is especially devastating for bees. It's the terror of hives!