An Asian giant hornet, nicknamed the 'murder hornet' killed a mouse within one minute of stinging it with venom. Photo / Twitter / Welcome To Nature
An Asian giant hornet, nicknamed the 'murder hornet' killed a mouse within one minute of stinging it with venom. Photo / Twitter / Welcome To Nature
Terrifying video has captured the moment a "murder hornet" killed a mouse at last three times its size in a matter of seconds.
The Asian giant hornet - nicknamed the murder hornet - could decimate the bee population with the killer insect capable of wiping out an entire beehive in a matter of hours.
Now, footage has shown how lethal their venom can be they can be on mice.
Video shows the mouse desperately trying to shake off the hornet which has latched on to its side.
In a frantic battle of survival, the two wrestle before the hornet manages to crawl on to the mouse's back whiles striking with its stinger.
Thousands and thousands of his colony had "their heads torn from their body", the New York Times reported.
"Asian giant hornets can use mandibles shaped like spiked shark fins to wipe out a honeybee hive in a matter of hours, decapitating the bees and flying away with the thoraxes to feed their young," the newspaper recounted.
Invasive Asian giant hornets have been found in the US. Photo / Washington State Department of Agriculture
"For larger targets, the hornet's potent venom and stinger make for an excruciating combination that victims have likened to hot metal driving into their skin."
McFall was shocked by the destruction of his bees. It was only later he figured the carnage could have been inflicted by a murder hornet.
"I couldn't wrap my head around what could have done that," he told the NYT.
The predatory insect was described in the piece as having "teardrop eyes like Spider-Man, orange and black stripes that extend down its body like a tiger, and broad, wispy wings like a small dragonfly".
