The Entomological Society of America hopes that moniker will become a thing of the past.
On Monday, theESA announcedthat Vespa mandarinia has been given the new common name of northern giant hornet.
The organization hadn’t previously adopted a formal common name for the insects.
ESA said the new name will be more accurate and will avoid feeding intoanti-Asian prejudice.
The hornets are large and are known to decapitate their bee victims.
Scientists are concerned they coulddevastate already fragile honeybee populations.
In some rare cases, they have been deadly to humans.
The southern giant hornet is a close relative of the northern giant hornet.
The renaming meets new guidelines adopted by ESA in 2021.
Those guidelines ban racial and ethnic names and discourage geographic region names, especially for invasive species.
ESA is asking researchers, government agencies, the media and the public to adopt the new name.
