Five years after the "murder hornet” (Vespa mandarinia,) was first spotted in Washington state, the U.S. has declared the invasive species eradicated.

In an article published in Futurity, Georgia Tech School of Biological Sciences Professor Mike Goodisman explained that eradicating the “murder hornet” will help the U.S. avoid a potential agricultural and commercial disaster due to the murder hornet’s threat to the already-declining honeybee population. 

“A threat to the honeybee population would be a commercial disaster,” Goodisman says. “Honeybees are critical in agriculture for pollinating a great variety of the foods we eat, and if we don’t have these pollinators, then we wouldn’t have many of the foods—fruits especially—that we are used to.”

The eradication of the hornet is a significant achievement, but Goodisman says it’s not a foregone conclusion that they will not re-emerge. Murder hornets can hibernate in various materials, cargo ships, and other commercial transportation, which can unknowingly spread invasive species worldwide.