''Vespa simillima'', the yellow hornet, including the color form known as the , is a common hornet species in the

Eastern Hemisphere The Eastern Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth which is east of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and west of the antimeridian (which crosses the Pacific Ocean and relatively little land from pole to pol ...

. The typical mainland color form ( Japanese:ケブカスズメバチ, Korean: 털보말벌, "hairy wasp") is darker and hairier than the yellow form; it lives in Hokkaido, the Korean Peninsula, Eastern Siberia and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, but is less common in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, where the yellow color form predominates. It should not be confused with the Asian giant hornet (''Vespa mandarinia''), which has a color form sometimes referred to as the "Japanese giant hornet". While there is a history of recognizing subspecies within many hornets, the most recent taxonomic revision treats all subspecific names in the genus ''Vespa'' as synonyms, effectively relegating them to no more than informal names for regional color forms.A.H. Smith-Pardo, J.M. Carpenter, L. Kimsey (2020) The diversity of hornets in the genus ''Vespa'' (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Vespinae), their importance and interceptions in the United States. Insect Systematics and Diversity 4(3) https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixaa006

Biology

Due to the large size of the swarm and aggressiveness of the yellow hornet, predation against them is rare. However, along with other insects in

and Korea, they are prey to the Asian giant hornet and nests have been known to be deserted after Asian giant hornet attacks, even though they attack in groups of only 10 to 30. Nests of the yellow hornet are sometimes attacked by the parasitic species known as the black hornet (''

Vespa dybowskii ''Vespa dybowskii'', also known as the black hornet or Dybowski's hornet, is a species of hornet found in Japan, Korea, Russia and China. It is considered rare or uncommon throughout its range. It has been suggested for attention in the Red Datab ...

''). In the early stage of nesting, the black hornet queen attacks the queens of other hornets, including the yellow hornet and European hornet. If the assault succeeds, it will usurp the nest to produce its own offspring, assisted by the workers of the former owner. The yellow hornet has the largest swarms of all of the hornet species, containing 1,000 to 2,000 workers. Although the yellow hornet is much smaller than the Asian giant hornet, it can be more dangerous to humans because they will attack people in greater numbers.

References

Hymenoptera of Asia Insects of Japan Vespidae Insects described in 1868 {{Vespidae-stub