The first Asian hornet trap is already hanging in Pilsen. Local beer also served as bait

The trap is made of plastic, specifically PVA, which is polyvinyl alcohol. “We tried several methods, including 3D printing, but this material won in the end, because it is fully degradable in nature,” said Zdeněk Hadrbolec, a technician at the RTI Research Center of the Pilsen Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

They tuned the method for about a month. “There is one of two forms in the machine. It closes, the injector injects the molten plastic. He waits a while for it to cool down. The mold opens and we take out the finished piece,” he described.

Asian hornets also appeared in Rudná u Prahy

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The trap consists of only two parts that simply fold together. “The intake opening is eight millimeters at the narrowest point, five to six at the travel opening. Hornets will therefore get in, but not out,” explained Tomáš Görner from the Agency for the Protection of Nature and Landscape of the Czech Republic.

RTI experts will produce 80 pieces. “That will do for now. We need to find out if the traps are effective and compliant. If so, we can talk about higher numbers,” he continued. They started the installation on Thursday in the forest park of the university campus in Bory, not far from the beehives.

About two kilometers as the crow flies from here, the first ever nest of Asian hornets appeared last year, specifically in the crowns of an acacia tree in the Skvrňany district. Firefighters destroyed their home.

It was subsequently examined by experts from the West Bohemian Museum in Pilsen. “We should place traps up to a five-kilometer perimeter,” Görner outlined. Syrup, white wine and Pilsner beer served as bait. “Wine is given so that it does not attract bees,” explained entomologist Jan Walter from the West Bohemian Museum.

Asian hornets are back. They were found in a truck in Rokycansk

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Asian hornets are an invasive insect species that kills bees. They are often found near beehives and water sources. According to Walter, they need water to build their homes. First, they build their first small nest. “The queen lays her eggs in it to develop the workers who take care of her. Only then will the colony build a second, already large nest,” he pointed out.

The Minister of the Environment highlighted the idea from the research center as well as the natural scientists’ initiative itself. “In France, the presence of Asian hornets is a big problem. We don’t want to underestimate the situation,” he emphasized. He can imagine that the product from RTI could be distributed throughout the Czech Republic in the future. The details have not yet been agreed upon.

According to Görner, they will put about 40 traps in Pilsen and the surrounding area. Others will go to Rudná near Prahy and Hrádek near Rokycan, because here too people have discovered an invasive insect species. They also chose locations along the D5 highway, because apparently it was this way that Asian hornets arrived in the Czech Republic. “In the case of Hrádek, we know 100% that they arrived by truck from France,” he confirmed.

Walter added that the employees of the company in Hrádek even caught a live queen. “I fed her honestly. I wanted her to start a primary nest. We would get a lot of important information thanks to this. But in the end it didn’t work out and we have her on a pin in the museum,” he concluded.

In a Pilsen hospital, they scanned a nest of Asian hornets as if it were a pregnant woman

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