The aim is to prevent the Asian wasps from expanding across the island and reduce the damage it causes to beekeeping, agriculture, the environment and humans. The Vespa velutina or Asian wasp is an invasive species that began to be detected in Spain a few years ago, as it arrived accidentally in France and from there it has spread very quickly through the south of the country and the Balearics, although it has also been found in Galicia and the Basque Country.
The Asian wasp is darker in colour than native wasps. The fourth segment of the abdomen is almost entirely yellow-orange. The head is black, the face yellow-orange and the legs are orange towards the end. It is between 17 and 32 mm long. The Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, through the Species Protection Service of the Directorate General for the Environment and Forest Management, has begun a campaign to control the Asian hornet (Vespa velutina) in Mallorca. The main objective is to prevent the spread of this invasive species and to control and eradicate it.
Councillor Joan Simonet has pointed out that ‘it is urgent to take intensive action in the territory by setting traps during this spring. For this reason, as part of this 2025 exercise, we will allocate a total of 28,000 euros from the Next Generation EU funds to reinforce and intensify field work in the months of March, April and May, with the installation of a thousand traps in the areas affected by the species last year, as well as in the surroundings of these areas as a preventive measure’.
The Director General for the Natural Environment and Forest Management, Anna Torres, has also explained that ‘the aim is to capture any queens that have hibernated (from secondary nests not detected last year) and prevent them from starting to make the primary nest. This will make it possible to break the natural cycle of the wasp’.
The Government is calling for citizen collaboration to detect this invasive alien species. If an Asian hornet is seen, it should be reported to the Species Protection Service (especies@dgmedinatural.caib.es) or to the Green Line of the Consortium for the Recovery of the Fauna of the Balearic Islands (COFIB) (lineaverdecofib.es) so that the nests can be located and eliminated and the spread to the rest of the archipelago can be prevented.
Information can also be provided through the Invasapp mobile application (invasapp.uib.es). To help with identification and avoid confusion with native wasps, an infographic is available for download from the Species Protection Service website (especies.caib.es). The programme for monitoring and surveillance of this species is possible thanks to the involvement and commitment of the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, through the Species Protection Service and COFIB, and has the technical advice of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB).
The Asian hornet, a predator of bees and many native insects, poses a danger to beekeeping and, therefore, to pollination. The Government also points out that this hornet is no more aggressive or dangerous than native species, but people who are allergic or particularly sensitive to stings should be alert. The Asian hornet was first detected in Mallorca in 2015. Thanks to the intervention of the Species Protection Service and COFIB, and with the collaboration of the UIB Zoology Laboratory, environmental agents and beekeepers’ associations, it was declared eradicated in 2021.
Later, in the same year 2021, after a warning, COFIB located and removed a nest from a plot of land located in the Son Ramonell housing development in Marratxí, which was later found to come from a different strain from the first wave, and therefore to be a new introduction. In 2022 and 2023 there were no reports or detections of nests or specimens.
However, last year it was present again, with 21 nests detected in different parts of Mallorca, first in the municipality of Palma and later in Calvia and other municipalities in the Serra de Tramuntana, such as Estellencs, Deya, Soller and Mancor de la Vall. All of them were removed by COFIB during the 2024 campaign.
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