The hornets with a sting like 'a hot nail entering the body' could be on their way to Britain!!

[mc_squared]

The hornets with a sting like 'a hot nail entering the body' could be on their way to Britain

 

 

By Mail On Sunday Reporter

Last updated at 11:58 PM on 26th September 2009

 

• Comments (0)
  
• Add to My Stories
  

 

 

Swarms of Asian hornets may be on their way to Britain after attempts to trap and poison them in France failed.

Vespa velutina, which can grow to 1.8in and has a wingspan of 3in, inflicts a bite that has been compared to a hot nail entering the body.

The hornets arrived in France in a shipment of Chinese pottery in late 2004. Their survival and spread has been linked to global warming.

 

Nasty bite: The Vespa velutina hornet arrived in a Chinese shipment of pottery in 2004 and have now flourished

 

Now, thousands of football-shaped hornet nests are dotted all over the forests of Aquitaine, a region in south-west France that is popular with British tourists.

There were reports of summer swarms attacking a mother and baby, then chasing cyclists and passers-by in an incident in Lot-et-Garonne.

The hornets have since been seen near Paris and experts are warning that they could cross the Channel to the south coast of England.

 

Stuart Hind, head of the Natural History Museum’s centre for biodiversity, said an invasion of the UK was ‘very likely’.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1216393/The-hornets-sting-like-hot-nail-entering-body-way-Britain.html#ixzz0SJEPaEIf