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- ›Ants, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies
- ›Narrow-waisted Wasps, Ants, and Bees
- ›Ants, Bees, and Stinging Wasps
- ›Vespoid Wasps
- ›Hornets, Paper Wasps, Potter Wasps, and Allies
- ›Hornets and Yellowjackets
Hornets
Vespa
Hornets (insects in the genera Vespa and Provespa) are the largest of the eusocial wasps, and are similar in appearance to their close relatives yellowjackets. Some species can reach up to 5.5 cm (2.2 in) in length. They are distinguished from other vespine wasps by the relatively large top margin of the head and by the rounded segment of the abdomen just behind the waist. Worldwide, there are 22 recognized species of Vespa, and three species of Provespa,...
23 branches of this genus, most-observed first
European Hornet
speciesVespa crabro
Yellow-legged Hornet
speciesVespa velutina
Oriental Hornet
speciesVespa orientalis
Lesser Banded Hornet
speciesVespa affinis
Greater Banded Hornet
speciesVespa tropica
Asian Giant Hornet
speciesVespa mandarinia
Black Shield Hornet
speciesVespa bicolor
Black-tailed Hornet
speciesVespa ducalis
Black-bellied Hornet
speciesVespa basalis
Yellow-vented Hornet
speciesVespa analis
Yellow Hornet
speciesVespa simillima
Southern Giant Hornet
speciesVespa soror
Dybowski's Hornet
speciesVespa dybowskii
Bingham's Hornet
speciesVespa binghami
Vespa mocsaryana
speciesVespa mocsaryana
Philippine Hornet
speciesVespa luctuosa
Vespa vivax
speciesVespa vivax
Vespa multimaculata
speciesVespa multimaculata
Vespa fumida
speciesVespa fumida
Vespa bellicosa
speciesVespa bellicosa
Vespa fervida
speciesVespa fervida
Vespa philippinensis
speciesVespa philippinensis
Vespa maculata
speciesVespa maculata
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Vespa in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 54328.