Chris Luni is an entomologist for the state of Washington.

He works for the Department of Agriculture.

When someone in the state spots something that they've never seen before,

some strange insect or mysterious nest, they contact Chris.

A grandma that calls me up with a weird fly in her house,

I can tell you what that fly is,

and I can also work on molecular analysis of a beetle that shows up in the state to tell you where that beetle came from.

We do lots of different things.

Chris has received thousands of messages from this sort of insect hotline.

So he's seen his share of interesting bugs. But one day in

December of 2019, he received a photo that he was hoping he would never see. I was at a meeting

in Cordellane, Idaho, which is just over the border from Washington. I got an email, and it was a

picture of this giant hornet curled up on somebody's porch,

and it was instantaneous.

We knew exactly what it was, and it was definitely a heart-sinking moment.

Here's the thing.

This is not your grandma's hornet.

This is something else entirely.

The picture was of the Asian giant Hornet.

It is unmistakable.

It is two inches long, with a three-inch wingspan.

It's covered in brown and orange stripes,

...