‘Northern Giant Hornet’ Adopted as Common Name for Vespa mandarinia

Annapolis, MD; July 25, 2022—The Entomological Society of America has adopted "northern giant hornet" for the species Vespa mandarinia in its Common Names of Insects and Related Organisms List. Vespa mandarinia is an invasive hornet native to Asia that has been the target of eradication efforts in Washington state, USA, and British Columbia, Canada, after individual hornets were first discovered there in 2019. It has been referred to elsewhere as "Asian giant hornet" or "murder hornet."

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Proposed Common Names

The following new insect common names were recently approved by the ESA Committee on Common Names and are being submitted to the ESA membership for comment. Please submit any comments to the ESA Common Names Committee via pubs@entsoc.org. For more information, click on the names below.

Proposed common name: hedgehog grain aphid

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Introduction

In zoology, the formation of a scientific name for an organism follows a strict set of rules adopted by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. This International Code of Zoological Nomenclature serves to promote the stability, accuracy, and universality of an organism's scientific name. Every proposed scientific name must be unique and distinct from all other names. In this way, every named organism is a distinguishable entity. However, scientific names are not always stable.

ESA Publications

The ESA publications program is designed to meet the professional needs of the ESA membership, reflect emerging areas of interest and research in entomology, and promote entomology in all its sub-disciplines for the advancement of science and the benefit of society. Publication policies, procedures, and governance are also covered.

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