Asian giant hornet life cycle
The Asian Giant Hornet life cycle is comparable to the cycle of other common hornets. There are 3 main part of the murder hornet life cycle, which are hibernation and hatching, Hornet evolution and expansion, reproduction and expansion, and death and hibernation.
Murder Hornet Hibernation and Hatching
The murder hornet life cycle begins in April when the Queen Asian Giant Hornet wakes up from hibernation. This sometimes varies based on the weather of the region, and the queen hornet may awake earlier if the climate is warmer. This worries scientists because global warming could prolong the murder hornet life cycle. When the queen hornet awakes, she immediately builds a nest and lays a set of baby murder hornet eggs. After one week, the egg becomes larvae. After the larvae stage, it becomes a small pupa, which is a small baby murder hornet. These new adult Asian Giant Hornets now become worker hornets. They leave the nest for the first time around July and go find food and help expand the size of the giant hornet nest. Some Asian Giant hornet nests can hold up to 2,000 murder hornets at its peak.
Hornets Evolve and Expand Nest
As the baby hornets evolve into adults, they start to expand the nest and then eventually leave the nest to hunt. This occurs between May and June.
Murder Hornets Attack Bees and 2nd Reproduction
During this time period, the new adult murder hornets’ mate with each other to produce offspring and more worker hornets for the murder hornet hive. The worker hornets also go out and attack bees and bring back their bodies and larvae to feed the other hornets. This occurs from the middle of summer and into fall.
Murder Hornet Death and Hibernation
As the weather gets cool in October and November, most of the murder hornets will die from the cold weather. This includes the original queen from the nest. However, the new female hornets that are already fertilized go into hibernation. Asian Giant Murder Hornets usually hibernate in small holes of wood. The Asian Giant hornet life cycle will resume in April when the fertilized murder hornets wake up from hibernation.
How long do Murder Hornets live for? (Murder Hornet life span)
Murder hornets usually live for one cycle, which lasts around one year. This is because a queen murder hornet dies at the end of fall, and the new queens carry on the genes into hibernation and the following year’s nest.
