It has a shocking habit of decapitating bees, but in a global biodiversity crisis we should be more worried about pesticides
‘So weird and beautiful’: readers’ nominations for invertebrate of the year
The Asian hornet has rapidly become the grey squirrel or the Japanese knotweed of the UK’s insect fauna.
From the panicked response to the appearance of this insect, one would think it was a giant monster. In fact, Asian hornets are smaller than native UK hornets and can be identified by their orange faces, yellow-tipped legs and darker abdomens. Their diet is other flying insects, and they will hover outside beehives and munch up huge numbers.
Welcome to the Guardian’s UK invertebrate of the year competition. Between 2 April and 12 April we are profiling incredible invertebrates that live in and around the UK. At midnight on Friday 12 April, voting will open to decide which is our favourite invertebrate – for now – with the winner to be announced on Monday 15 April
