The 'murder hornet' finally has a good name

It's a victory for arthropods.

The large two-inch hornet Vespa mandarinia, which is an invader in North America, has been referred to as "murder hornet" and "Asian giant hornet" for the last couple of years. That is changing.

The common name for this species was announced by the Entomological Society of America. "Murder hornet" was a bad name because it unfairly villainized insects.

Jessica Ware, president of the Entomological Society of America, said that the northern giant hornet is both easy to understand and accurate.

There are a lot of reasons to change the name.

• The animals are native to places like Japan. Akito Kawahara, an entomologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History who studies the evolution and diversity of insects, previously told Mashable that they don't call them murderers. In Japan, people call them large hornets or giant hornets.

• Modern society views insects in a different way. They are not evil and we have to control them. "I don't think it's a good name," said Kawahara. The insects have a bad perception.

• Animals are not murderers. Murder people is something that people do. We don't need to make them look bad. The species are big. They are able to decimates bee colonies. They don't want to know about you. There are better things they could be doing.

  Heather Mattila, a biologist at Wellesley College who studies honey bees and other insects, said in 2020 that they are not after you. They're after their prey.

The name Asian giant hornet proved problematic. It's because of the tendency for some people to use the word Asian in a negative way. There could be problems that should be avoided.

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A great northern hornet. Credit: WSDA

"Northern giant hornet" works well because it gives a good description of where the species is located in Asia without provoking fear or discrimination.

The big hornets are not native to the United States. They pose a problem. The Washington State Department of Agriculture wants to eradicate this species by finding and destroying their nest. The honey bees can be threatened by the big hornets.

If we can avoid it, this is an animal we don't want in North America.

Unless you're in a part of the Pacific Northwest, you won't see a northern giant hornet in the U.S. It's important to remember that insects are a normal part of our environment. Many are critical to the pollination of plants.

We need to grow comfortable around these creatures. People ask me when the insects will take over the world. Eric Day, an entomologist at Virginia Tech, told me about the bugs.

They already have.