Ornetin UV Technology: A New Visual Approach for Trapping Asian Hornets
When Light Becomes a Lever Against the Asian Hornet
For a long time, trapping the Asian hornet relied on a single certainty: its sense of smell.
We multiplied recipes, adjusted fermentations, tested more or less attractive baits. And it worked… up to a point.
Especially when pressure was already established, when workers were numerous around apiaries and food competition worked in favor of the trap.
But very early on, a limitation became clear: spring, and with it the challenge of trapping foundresses. Indeed, a foundress is not a worker. She is alone, dispersed across the landscape, constantly moving. She does not patrol an apiary: she explores a territory.
In this context, a simple olfactory signal often becomes limited. Something else is needed. A second lever.
That’s when an idea—almost obvious in hindsight—emerged: the hornet does not rely solely on smell. It sees.
Inspiration from Elsewhere: The World of Mosquitoes
This idea was not born in beekeeping, but elsewhere: in the world of mosquitoes.
For years, UV traps have exploited a well-known principle: the use of a visual ultraviolet signal to disrupt and guide flight behavior.
Mosquitoes are sensitive to it, and their flight path is strongly influenced by it.
The question then arose naturally:
If a UV visual signal can play such a decisive role in mosquitoes, why not explore this lever for the Asian hornet?
Especially since, like mosquitoes, hornets have a visual spectrum that extends into ultraviolet, blue, and green.
A Major Constraint: No Electricity in the Apiary
The answer came immediately, almost like a wall.
Classic UV traps work because they are plugged into the mains: UV lamps, continuous power supply, energy-consuming devices... None of which are compatible with real apiary conditions.
You don’t plug dozens of traps into the middle of fields, forests, or hillsides.
If a solution was to exist, it had to be passive, autonomous, and electricity-free.
It was at this precise moment that the reasoning shifted.
Why Produce UV When the Sun Already Provides It?
Why try to artificially produce UV light when the sun already provides it constantly?
Here is the standard solar emission spectrum in the UV and visible wavelengths:
Figure 2 — Visual spectrum received from the sun
And here is the comparison between the spectrum visible to humans and that perceived by hornets and, more broadly, by hymenopterans:
Ultraviolet in Hymenopteran Vision
In hymenopterans (bees, wasps, hornets), ultraviolet light is not a marginal detail: it is an integral part of how they perceive the world.
Unlike humans, whose vision stops at violet, many hymenopterans have photoreceptors sensitive to UV-A, typically around 340–360 nm.
Their vision is trichromatic, but shifted toward shorter wavelengths: UV – blue – green, rather than blue – green – red as in humans.
In bees, the use of UV is well documented. Flowers often display UV patterns invisible to the human eye—the famous nectar guides—which direct the insect toward the floral center.
UV also plays a role in spatial orientation, shape recognition, contrast between objects and background, and visual memory of the environment.
In wasps and hornets, the knowledge is less widely popularized but converges toward the same biological reality.
They are diurnal, highly visual insects, active in full sunlight, relying heavily on vision for navigation, hunting, and exploration. UV enriches their visual landscape and influences their flight trajectories and approach behaviors.
UV light is therefore not perceived as a color, but as a structuring visual signal. A material that reflects UV does not “shine” in the human sense, but stands out visually to the insect.
The Real Problem: UV Is There… But Disappears
So far, we have seen that the problem is not the absence of ultraviolet in the environment. UV is naturally present in sunlight. But to make use of it, we face another issue: the vast majority of common materials absorb or neutralize it.
Ultraviolet is present, but it disappears. Invisible. Unusable.
What if, instead of absorbing it, we learned to reflect it?
To redirect it in a targeted, stable way that can be exploited by the hornet’s visual system?
Figure 2 — Materials absorbing or reflecting UV light
From Material to UV® Technology
From that point on, the work became far deeper than simply designing a trap.
We had to address the material itself:
its composition, its color, its optical response, its behavior over time under rain, sun, and repeated UV exposure.
The objective was not aesthetic, but functional:
to develop a material capable of transforming sunlight into an active visual signal, without energy, electronics, or maintenance.
This research and development effort resulted in a new technology, which we patented in 2025.
Industrialization and Initial Field Results
We developed a trap that reflects approximately 80% more UV light than a conventional trap, making it theoretically more attractive.
The technology then reached the key stage of industrialization. It required dedicated investments, close collaboration with the mold manufacturer, and precise selection of processes and materials to ensure both optical performance and product durability in real conditions. In June 2025, these efforts led to the production of the first industrial batch, manufactured in the Basque Country.
But the theory still had to be validated under real conditions.
Experimental Validation in the Apiary
At the beginning of summer 2025, with the first models available, we conducted a field experimentation campaign in our apiary.
The method was simple:
place 6 pairs of Ornetin Classic | Ornetin UV traps side by side across the apiary, using the same bait.
We filmed all the trials (three rounds), then collected and analyzed the captures.
Figure 2 — Careful counting after trapping
The consolidated results show clearly differentiated attractiveness:
Ornetin UV captured an average of 75% of the hornets, compared to 25% for Ornetin Classic.
This does not call into question the effectiveness of Ornetin Classic, widely confirmed since 2022 through numerous experiments and user feedback. But it clearly demonstrates that when an Ornetin UV is present, hornets predominantly prefer this device.
Trapping Now Based on Two Levers
With Ornetin UV, trapping no longer relies on a single lever, but on a combination of two complementary mechanisms. The bait fully retains its olfactory role, but it is now reinforced by a second, visual signal that increases the probability of interaction with the trap, particularly at greater distances.
These two levers do not oppose each other: they complement and reinforce one another. Theory is now confirmed by practice—a key milestone that opens important perspectives for further development of the technology.
The Major Challenge: Foundresses
We have demonstrated superior attractiveness for workers in summer and autumn 2025.
The next decisive step is to demonstrate performance in trapping queen foundresses in spring.
In spring, every captured foundress matters.
Pressure is still diffuse and difficult to perceive, and an additional visual signal can make the difference.
It does not replace the bait:
it gives it greater range, presence, and coherence with the biology of the targeted insect.
A Practical Innovation Born from the Field
The UV® technology developed by Ornetin is not a miracle promise.
It does not claim to solve the Asian hornet problem alone. But it introduces a fundamental change:
For the first time, Asian hornet trapping acts simultaneously on smell and sight, in a passive, sustainable way compatible with real field conditions.
An innovation born from constraint, guided by observation, and built to last.
See you in the apiaries this spring!