Two yellow-legged hornet nests, found just over 100 metres apart, have been removed on Auckland’s North Shore.
More of the aggressive predators, which threaten people’s health, biodiversity and honey bees, have been found in Auckland over the last month.
Today, the Ministry of Primary Industries said biosecurity staff detected two nests in the suburb of Glenfield.
The nests found were just over 100m apart from one another in the same area as previous finds.
One was described as being the size of a cricket ball, while the other was the size of a golf ball.
“One nest was more developed and contained a queen, two worker hornets and two adults which were about the emerge. The other nest was less developed and contained a queen,” northern commissioner for Biosecurity New Zealand, Mike Inglis said.
“We’ve been increasing our ground surveillance this week to 100 metres from detection sites. The detections show this approach is working.”
There have been nine confirmed queen hornets discovered across Glenfield and Birkdale. All detected hornets and nests have been “safely removed”.
Biosecurity NZ said it would expand its ground searches next week to include parks and reserves. Staff look for nests in areas such as trees, roof eaves, and fence lines.
Protein-based traps that attract both workers and queens were being laid with plans to ramp up efforts.
More than 120 people have been involved in the response, and more than 180 traps have been laid.
