Also, wasps are horrid. Are Hornets better or worse? Since they're non-native this is still an invasive species, but it's not impossible they continue to perform roles which bees are now depended on, economically.
Also, wasps are horrid. Are Hornets better or worse? Since they're non-native this is still an invasive species, but it's not impossible they continue to perform roles which bees are now depended on, economically.
Some flowers can only be pollinated by insects of particular sizes or shapes because of the position of the pollen-producing (anthers) and pollen-accepting (stigma) structures, and some insects bypass pollen entirely by biting a hole in the base of a flower to drink the nectar, and some insects don't visit multiple flowers of the same species consistently enough to transfer pollen (honeybees for instance apparently) as efficiently as other insects (bumblebees).
Most wasps (of which hornets are a subtype) are only interested in nectar, not pollen, and some flowers don't produce nectar so won't be visited by wasps. Most wasps have short tongues for their body size, so they can't access some flowers that bumblebees can (bumblebees have long tongues). Some bees (bumblebees or mining bees for instance, not honeybees) buzz their wings to extract pollen from particular flowers like blueberries and tomatoes, enabling them to be pollinated effectively, and wasps don't do that.
So giant hornets can't do all pollinating that bees can do. However, in the upper Midwest the spotted bee balm (Monarda punctata) is pollinated by large wasps, so there might be other flowers in the area invaded by giant hornets that could be pollinated by them.
Disclaimer: I'm an amateur, not a scientist with a degree.
All hornets are wasps. But not every wasp is a hornet.
Asian hornets are much more efficient killing people. I think that this should count as worse.
But the much more stoic European hornet has a special place in my little heart.