Asian giant hornet

The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia), including the former subspecies known as the Japanese giant hornet (V. m. japonica), colloquially known as the yak-killer hornet, is the world's largest hornet, native to temperate and tropical Eastern Asia. They prefer to live in low mountains and forests, while almost completely avoiding plains and high-altitude climates. V. mandarinia creates nests by digging, co-opting pre-existing tunnels dug by rodents, or occupying spaces near rotted pine roots. It feeds primarily on larger insects, colonies of other eusocial insects, tree sap, and honey from honey bee colonies. The hornet has a body length of 45 mm (1.8 in), a wingspan around 75 mm (3.0 in), and a stinger 6 mm (0.24 in) long, which injects a large amount of potent venom. The Asian giant hornet is sometimes confused with the yellow-legged hornet (Vespa velutina), also known as the Asian hornet, an invasive species of major concern across Europe, including the UK. V. mandarinia is a species in the genus Vespa, which comprises all true hornets. Along with seven other species, V. mandarinia is a part of the V. tropica species group, defined by the single notch located on the apical margin of the seventh gastral sternum of the male. The most closely related species within the species group is V. soror. The triangular shape of the apical margin of the clypeus of the female is diagnostic, the vertex of both species is enlarged, and the shape of the apex of the aedeagus is distinct and similar. Division of the genus into subgenera has been attempted in the past, but has been abandoned, due to the anatomical similarity amongst species and because behavioural similarity is not associated with phylogeny.As of 2012, there are only three subspecies recognized: V. m. mandarinia Smith, 1852 (Eastern China, Korea, Russia, and Japan); V. mandarinia magnifica Smith, 1852 (Western China, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Laos, and peninsular Malaysia); V. mandarinia nobilis Sonan, 1929 (Taiwan only). The former subspecies referred to as V. mandarinia japonica has not been considered valid since 1997. Regardless of sex, the hornet’s head is a light shade of orange and its antennae are brown with a yellow-orange base. Its eyes and ocelli are dark brown to black. V. mandarinia is distinguished from other hornets by its pronounced clypeus and large genae. Its orange mandible contains a black tooth that it uses for digging. The thorax is dark brown, with two grey wings varying in span from 3.5 to 7.5 cm. Its forelegs are brighter than the mid and hind legs. The base of the forelegs is darker than the rest. The abdomen alternates between bands of dark brown or black and a yellow-orange hue (consistent with its head color). The sixth segment is yellow. Its stinger is up to 10 mm long and contains a potent venom that, in cases of multiple hornets stinging simultaneously, can kill a human. The queens are considerably larger than workers. Queens can exceed 50 mm (2.0 in), while workers are between 35 and 40 mm (1.4 and 1.6 in). The reproductive anatomy is consistent between the two, but workers do not reproduce. Drones (males) are similar to females, but lack a stinger. This is a consistent feature among Hymenoptera. It can be found in the Primorsky Krai, Khabarovsky Krai (southern part only) and Jewish AO regions of Russia, Korea (where it is called 장수말벌 'general officer wasp'), China, Taiwan (simplified Chinese: 虎头蜂; traditional Chinese: 虎頭蜂; literally: 'tiger head bee'), Indochina (region which consists of the countries Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam), Nepal, India and Sri Lanka, but it is most common in rural areas of Japan, where it is called ōsuzumebachi (大雀蜂, 'giant sparrow bee'). Reports of this species from other parts of the world are erroneous identifications of other hornet species, such as V. orientalis and V. velutina in Europe, and Vespa crabro in the United States. V. mandarinia nests in low mountain foothills and lowland forests. As a particularly dominant species, no efforts are directed towards conserving V. mandarinia or its habitats, as they are common in areas of low human disturbance. Unlike other species of Vespa, V. mandarinia almost exclusively inhabits subterranean nests. In a study of 31 nests, 25 were found around rotten pine roots. Additionally, rodents, snakes, or other burrowing animals previously made some of the tunnels. The depth of these nests was between 6 and 60 cm. The entrance at the ground surface varies in length from 2 to 60 cm either horizontally, inclined, or vertically. The queens that found the nest prefer narrow cavities.