A 12-year-old boy has found what is believed to be the largest European wasp nest in the world, on a property at Karoola, north east of Launceston in Tasmania.

Jordan Waddingham set out to discover the nest after his mother Stephanie complained about the number of European wasps on the property.

Honorary Research Associate at Launceston's Queen Victoria Museum Simon Fearn said young Jordan earned $20 for his discovery.

Mr Fearn said the nest was so big because it was two years old and probably contained several hundred thousand wasps.

"A one-year-old nest is the size of a soccer ball, but this nest takes up the best part of a cubic metre," he said.

"Normally European wasp nests don't survive through winter, but last year's mild, dry winter allowed it to survive into its second year.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 9 minutes 32 seconds 9 m Simon Fearn from the Queen Victoria Museum in Launceston talks about the discovery of what is believed to be the biggest wasp nest ever found in the world ( Tony Briscoe ) Download 4.4 MB

"We had to go on to the property at night when the wasps were dormant to destroy the colony.

"It took two days to unearth the nest from a creek bank, and four men had to carry it out of the bush."

The European wasp first came to the southern hemisphere in the 1940's on freight bound for New Zealand.\

Hibernating queens arrived in Tasmania on some freight in 1959 and then the wasps spread all over Tasmania in the 60's and 70's," Mr Fearn said.

"By 1977 the wasps were first detected in Victoria before spreading to New South Wales, South Australia and West Australia."

Mr Fearn said the wasps cause a lot of damage to agriculture, but do eat a lot of insects, such as flies and caterpillars.

"At this time of the year all the worker wasps are frantically trying to get sweet sugary substances," he said.

"Fruit crops such as apples, pears and grapes are being targeted by wasps, which chew holes in the sides of fruit.

"I've seen ripe pears that wasps have completely hollowed out with just the skin left hanging on the tree."

As far as targeting wasp nest on properties across the southern part of Australia, Mr Fearn offered a note of caution.

"You can't go anywhere near a nest like this during daylight hours as the wasps defend their home rigorously" he said.

"There could have been more than a hundred thousand wasps in this massive nest, so we had to wait until nightfall when the wasps were dormant."

As far as getting stung during the operation, Mr Fearn admitted he got stung several times.

A review of literature on European wasps has identified the nest as the largest underground nest ever found in the world, weighing just under 100 kilos.

The nest will go on display at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston over the Easter break.

