GoGardenNews - Items of gardening and ecological interest — invasive species

Theodore Bunker reported in Newsmax that "the first nest of 'murder hornets' discovered in the United States...contained about 200 queens that were capable of producing larvae." The hornets were discovered a couple of years ago in Washington State. Could they become an invasive species?

An article in Newsbreak by Alissa Rose warns of hammerhead worms. "Recently, a dangerous species of worm called hammerhead worms were found in North Carolina. But they're not limited to North Carolina. The photo above was taken in Austin Texas by PvilleSteve, (CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons).

John Pitarresi in a "Special to the Observer-Dispatch" declared that "Japanese knotweed is a menace.Even more than we knew. Knotweed is that tall, big-leafed plant that grows most commonly along creeks and rivers in dense stands that can be almost impossible to walk through. Some call it bamboo, which it superficially resembles. It makes recreation in some areas very difficult, and it displaces native plants in a big way. And more than that.

Photo by Karan Rawlins; University of Georgia

If there's not enough for you to fear, we're being warned about Cogon Grass (Imperata cylindrica). It's native to Southeast Asia and possibly to East Africa. It was introduced to the U.S. by accident, then intentionally. It's a beast.

Invasive exotic species are considered one of the main causes of the current biodiversity crisis. In recent years, humans have introduced 200 species of ant from outside of their natural area of distribution and some of them have become invasive. Such is the case of the Asian needle ant, Brachyponera chinensis, which has seen its area of distribution greatly expand in the last 80 years.