Yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina, is an invasive hornet native to southeast Asia that was first detected in the United States in Savannah, Georgia, in 2023. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services confirmed what she saw: the yellow-legged hornet had arrived. Last December, a population turned up in York County, South Carolina, just south of Charlotte. "North Carolina has thousands of beekeepers statewide, and our apiary team has been working diligently to alert them to the threat yellow-legged hornet poses to their hives." Their nests can grow much larger than other hornet nests and have a reddish, muddy color compared to gray nests of bald-faced hornets.