The hunt for the invasive yellow-legged hornets that are destroying honey bees has begun after several large nests were discovered near Hilton Head.

The hornets were trapped and the site monitored, according to a press release from Clemson University’s School of Plant Industries. Officials were notified by a beekeeper in Beaufort who had filmed hornets attacking his bees.

Yellow-legged hornets build three egg-shaped nests made of paper over the course of their lives as their brood grows—an embryo nest, like the one found in South Carolina in April. They then move to a basketball-sized main nest and finally to a secondary nest that can be as large as a car engine.

Clemson University officials discovered secondary nests in Beaufort County, the first found in the state.

Up to 6,000 hornets can live in the secondary nests. They are native to Southeast Asia.

Two Clemson departments developed an early warning system to detect the hornets in 2023 after a beekeeper in Georgia found one. Clemson scientists found a queen within a few months. A hornet can eat a dozen or more honey bees in a day, scientists say.

They closely resemble native insects, including the cicada-killer wasp, the bald-faced hornet, paper wasps, queen wasps, wood wasps, and robber flies.

The yellow-legged hornet is established in most of Europe and the Middle East. Honeybees are essential to agriculture and forestry in South Carolina, the state’s largest industry, but their numbers are declining due to pesticide use, environmental factors and mites.

“We urge people in the Lowcountry, especially in the Bluffton and Hilton Head Island areas, to remain vigilant and report any suspicious nests or hornets to us immediately. This is our best chance to control this potentially devastating pest,” said Steven Long, deputy director of the Clemson Department of Plant Industry.

Anyone who finds a suspicious nest should report their discovery at www.clemson.edu/public/regulatory/plant-industry/invasive/ylh.html and attach photographs. The nest should be left alone for proper disposal by field inspectors.