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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

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