The stinging Vespa mandarinia can grow as large as 2-1/2 inches (6.35 cm) in length and is native to Southeast Asia, China and Taiwan.

According to British Columbia’s agriculture ministry, a nest was found and destroyed last August at Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, and a single specimen of the hornet was found in November on the B.C. mainland, at White Rock.

On the U.S. side of the border, individual specimens were found in December near Blaine, Wash., just south of White Rock, according to Sven-Erik Spichiger, managing entomologist at the Washington state agriculture department.

Those findings indicate a “probability” that nesting hornets are overwintering in the area, the province said in March, noting wooded habitat offers suitable nesting grounds.

The “murder hornet” presents a danger to agriculture and the apiary industry, Spichiger said, because the insect is known to attack honeybees, with a few of the hornets capable of wiping out an entire hive in hours.

“The hornets enter a ‘slaughter phase’ where they kill bees by decapitating them. They then defend the hive as their own, taking the brood to feed their own young,” according to the Washington state department of agriculture website.

“Pollination is a huge part of agriculture and the agricultural systems we have here in the United States. And so if this were to become well-established and then start spreading, it could be pretty catastrophic,” Spichiger said.

Also. if provoked, “an Asian giant hornet can sting you multiple times and deliver larger doses of venom just because of the size of them. The venom itself is fairly toxic and creates localized necrosis around the wound so you’ll see melting flesh around the wound,” he told Reuters.

“What we’re told from the literature is that most people can survive one or two stings,” he said. “But if you sustain multiple stings, the necrosis and the venom will actually start getting into your bloodstream and will start working on your organs. And multiple stings could literally be fatal.”

Scientists don’t know for sure how the murder hornet made its way to the region. The most likely scenario is that it arrived on a container ship. Intentional transport of the bug into the United States would violate federal law.

Following the discovery of the first hornet, a web page set up by Washington state agriculture officials to report additional sightings of the insect has received several hundred reports, Spichiger said.

British Columbia’s agriculture ministry also wants people in the region who may have seen Asian giant hornets to report sightings to the Invasive Species Council of B.C., with photos if possible.

The ministry noted several large insects common to the region — such as yellow jackets, bald faced hornets, elm sawflies and horntail wasps — could be mistaken for Asian giant hornets.

While Asian giant hornets do not generally target people, pets or large livestock, they can attack when threatened or if their nest is disturbed.

“We really don’t want any private citizen trying to mess with an Asian giant hornet nest. Typical beekeeping attire will simply not protect you. The stinger on this insect is six millimeters long and will go readily through most clothes,” Spichiger said.

— Reporting for Reuters by Omar Younis; writing by Dan Whitcomb. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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So-called riparian growers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta who participate in the program have agreed to either reduce water diversions by 25 per cent or fallow one-quarter of their land, the State Water Resources Control Board said.

Riparian land borders natural waterways such as rivers or streams and growers with such farmland in the delta are among those with some of California’s most senior water rights.

“This proposal helps Delta growers manage the risk of potentially deeper curtailment, while ensuring significant water conservation efforts in this fourth year of drought,” State Water Board chair Felicia Marcus said.

“It allows participating growers to share in the sacrifice that people throughout the state are facing because of the severe drought, while protecting their economic well-being by giving them some certainty regarding exercise of the State Water Board’s enforcement discretion at the beginning of the planting season,” she said.

The agreement comes as the board is considering curtailing water diversions to senior water rights holders in California for the first time since the late 1970s.

California is entering its fourth year of a devastating drought that has prompted Governor Jerry Brown to impose the state’s first-ever mandatory cutbacks in urban water use, up to 36 per cent in some communities.

California grows nearly half of all U.S. fruits and vegetables, mostly in the Central Valley, and ranks as the top farm state by annual value of agricultural products.

— Reporting for Reuters by Dan Whitcomb; additional reporting for Reuters by Lisa Baertlein.

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The storm, also known as a “Pineapple Express” because it results from a ribbon of moist air moving across the southern Pacific Ocean was forecast to dump as much as 25 cm of rain in coastal mountains.

National Weather Service meteorologist Austin Cross said more than 7.5 cm of rain had been already recorded in the hills of western Sonoma County by early afternoon on Friday.

Flash flood advisories were issued for Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties and authorities were also concerned about the potential for mudslides in hillsides left scarred by wildfires. High winds knocked down trees and caused scattered power outages.

According to Pacific Gas and Electric, some 24,000 homes and businesses had been impacted across the Bay Area since the storm hit, although power had been restored to most customers by mid-afternoon.

Cross said heavy rains were expected to fall throughout the day on Friday and then again on Sunday after a brief lull on Saturday.

Forecasters say that while the soaking that the storm will deliver to northern California will provide a small measure of relief to the drought-stricken state, it was not expected to make a significant impact, in part because the warm weather system would not add to mountain snow packs.

The multi-year record drought has prompted California officials to sharply reduce water supplies to farmers and impose strict conservation measures statewide.

Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the U.S. Drought Monitor, said experts were optimistic when California was hit with several strong storm systems in December but those hopes largely evaporated when January saw very little precipitation.

January is typically the state’s wettest month, he said, with little rain falling between mid-April and December.

Fuchs said the intensity of the drought was lessened in some areas, including Marin County, after December’s rains and that a small section of the state, on the eastern edge of San Bernardino County, was no longer considered to be in a drought.

“It’s one little corner of the state, a desert region that had more precipitation than they usually do and that was enough,” he said, adding that it would not make a significant impact on the larger crisis.

— Dan Whitcomb is a Reuters correspondent based in Los Angeles.

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Agricultural specialists with U.S. Customs and Border Protection found an adult khapra beetle, eight larvae and a shed skin in a shipment of Indian rice from Saudi Arabia last week, spokesman Jaime Ruiz said.

The khapra beetle, which is native to India and not currently established in the U.S., is considered one of the most destructive pests of grain products and seeds.

“It is endemic to several countries and the reason it is very dangerous is that its life cycle is very long and it goes into all kinds of food grains,” Naveeda Mirza, agriculture program manager for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told Reuters.

“It has several dormant stages. It can go dormant for a long time and then become active again. It’s very, very hard to get rid of and that’s why it’s very dangerous,” Mirza said. “It is one of the top 10 most dangerous pests not established here.”

The khapra beetle can also survive for long periods of time without food and is resistant to insecticides and fumigants.

The rice was found in a box of food and personal effects being sent from one person to another, Mirza said.

The shipment was immediately quarantined and safeguarded, then destroyed under U.S. Customs and Border Protection supervision, Mirza said.

According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture website, in 1953 an extensive infestation of khapra beetle was found in California, prompting a massive eradication effort.

Last March, Customs and Border Protection officials in Detroit found a khapra beetle in a shipment of tile from China.

— Dan Whitcomb writes for Reuters from Los Angeles.

— The “Editors’ Picks” feature highlights eyebrow-raising and unusual-yet-true news from the world of farming, as gleaned from various sources by the editorial staff of the Farm Business Communications division.

CLARIFICATION FROM SOURCE, Jan. 6: The original version of this article incorrectly stated a khapra beetle had been found in Detroit in a load of tile from China “earlier this year.” 

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