Sex chemicals could be used to stop 'murder hornets' causing chaos across Europe and North America.
Sex traps could be used to lure 'murder hornets'
The smells sent out by a hornet queen can be used to lure in the invasive insects with three of the major chemicals identified as hexanoic, octanoic and decanoic acid and experts suggest that they should be used to trap the disruptive creatures.
Asian giant hornets, which have been given the moniker 'murder hornets', threaten pollinating bees along with crops in both Britain and the United States.
Professor James Neih, from the University of California, said: "They are amazing social insects but they don't belong and harm our critical bee populations, so we should remove them.
"The males are drawn to the odours of the females since they mate with them near their nests.
"Because these pheromone-based traps are fairly inexpensive I think they could be readily deployed across a large geographic range."