What to do about Asian Hornets

What should you do if you think you might have seen a Yellow-legged Asian Hornet (frelon asiatique or frelon à pattes jaunes) or an active nest?

• notify the mairie or communauté de communes.
• once notified, the mairie will contact FDGDON 37 (Féderation Départemental des Groupements de Défense contre les Organismes Nuisibles).
• FDGDON 37 will make contact with you and confirm whether you do indeed have frelons à pattes jaunes. To do this, a qualified person will make an identification from photos or dead specimens supplied by you or if necessary, visit your premises.
• reporting every individual Asian Hornet is important, as it helps to locate the nests.
• all the records are centralised to establish a database of this invasive species and monitor its distribution.

Yellow-legged Asian Hornets are recognisable by their yellow feet and black abdomen with a wide orangey band.

Yellow-legged Asian Hornet.
Note how dark overall it is, with a black thorax, not brown.

Note that the abdomen is mainly black, with plain yellow bands.

What should you do if there is a nest?

To destroy inhabited nests it is advisable to call a specialist business (applicateur hygiéniste). A list of professionals who adhere to a code of best practice can be obtained from FDGDON 37 (email: contact@fdgdon37.fr).

Beware! It is dangerous to destroy the nest yourself.

• once destroyed, the pest controller will inform FDGDON 37.
• FDGDON 37 will inform your mairie.
  

For further information download the leaflet (téléchargez la plaquette d'information sur le frelon asiatique) available on this website (in French, with photos). You can also go to my previous post on Asian Hornets or the Muséum National de l'Histoire Naturelle factsheet (in French).

Susan

Source: The text in this post has been translated from the FDGDON 37 information leaflet, which local authorities are putting on their websites or displaying on their town notice boards. The photos and their captions in the post are mine.

Not an Asian Hornet.
This is a very large hoverfly.
Note the overall yellow, not dark, appearance.

Not an Asian Hornet.
This is a large potter wasp.
Note the extreme 'wasp waist'.

Not an Asian Hornet.
This is a European Hornet.
Note the brown thorax and mainly yellow abdomen.