This south-east Asian species of wasp was first
recorded in France in 2005. The Asian Hornet
(Vespa velutina) is thought to have arrived in a con-
tainer of pottery from China before 2004 through
the port of Bordeaux. Since 2005 it has spread
rapidly throughout the neighbouring départe-
ments. There are NO UK records as of May 2010.
Slightly smaller than the native European Hornet,
with queens up to 30mm, and workers up to
25mm in length. They are easily recognised by
their appearance and difficult to confuse with any
other species. The thorax is a velvety black / dark
brown with brown abdominal segments bordered
with a fine yellow band. Only the 4th segment is
almost entirely a yellowy-orange. The legs are
brown with yellow ends and the head is black with
an orange-yellow face.
As with other social wasps, the colonies last one
season, and only the fertilised queens hibernate.
Habitat and Threats
In France, the Asian Hornet nests in tall trees in ur-
ban and rural areas, but avoids pure stands of coni-
fers. Nests are also found in garages, sheds, under
decking - or much more rarely, in holes in walls or in
the ground.
Vespa velutina is a day flying species which, unlike the
European Hornet, ceases all activity at dusk. It is a
proven predator of social wasps and other bees, in-
cluding Honeybees, but as in V. crabro, it also con-
sumes a wide variety of other insect prey.
The impact on Honeybees can be limited merely by
reducing the hive entrance to a narrow slit. So far,
predation of honeybees in France by V. velutina seems
to be limited to the adults rather than the brood .
V. velutina is not generally aggressive, although the
stings can be painful. Large nests (usually those in
trees) should certainly be avoided.
Featuring:
• Background
information
• Life cycle
• Habitat
requirements
• Threats Background and Distribution
JOINT INITIATIVE: HYMETTUS — BWARS — MNHN
Information Sheet
ASIAN HORNET (Vespa velutina) May 2010
Information Sheet 12
A queen Asian Hornet
Hymettus Ltd is the pre-
mier source of advice on the
conservation of bees, wasps
and ants within Great Britain
and Ireland.
http://hymettus.org.uk/
BWARS
BWARS, The Bees Wasps &
Ants Recording Society is the
national recording scheme which
provides the only source of fully
validated data on the UK bee, wasp
& ant fauna.
http://www.bwars.com/
∗ Alien Invasive
∗ Spreading in France
∗ NOT in UK
∗ Potential threat to domes-
tic Honeybees
∗ Please report possible
sightings (with photos)
Vespa velutina nest
Worker Asian Hornet hunting at a
Honeybee hive
A map of France showing known distribution
and colonised départements
A queen Asian Hornet
Stuart Roberts, Quentin Rome & Claire Villemant
For further information and submission of
records and/or photographs, please contact::
(UK) spmr[at]msn.com
(FR) vespa[at]mnhn.fr
Photos: Claire Villemant & Jean Haxaire
Interior of nest showing
Worker and brood
MNHN, Muséum National
d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris,
France, and INPN, Inventaire
National du Patrimoine
Naturel, for recording of validated
data on all the species in France.
http://inpn.mnhn.fr/isb/index.jsp?
© J. Haxaire
© J. Haxaire © J. Haxaire
© J. Haxaire