Vespa ducalis

Vespa ducalis, the black-tailed hornet, is a species of hornet in the genus Vespa. It was described by Smith in 1852. In Japan, it is called himesuzumebachi (姫雀蜂; literally: "princess sparrow wasp").

Vespa ducalis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Clade:	Pancrustacea
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Vespidae
Genus:	Vespa
Species:	V. ducalis
Binomial name
Vespa ducalis Smith, 1852
Synonyms
Vespa matsumurai Sonan, 1935 Vespa esakii Sonan, 1935 Vespa pulchra Buysson, 1905

Description

Workers have a body length of 24–32 mm; the queen is about 37 mm. They have a distinctive black tail. They are only slightly smaller than the Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia), which has a body length of about 30–55 mm.

Distribution

It is found in Asia, including China (mainland), Hong Kong, India (northeast), Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Myanmar, Nepal, Siberia in Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam (north and central parts).

Behaviour

The larvae of Vespa ducalis feed primarily on the pupae and larvae of paper wasps. Adult Vespa ducalis often attack paper wasp nests to hunt larvae, typically ignoring the adults. They may repeatedly return to the same colony to raid it.

Nest

Colonies are the smallest among species in the genus Vespa. Nests are built underground and typically contain around 50 individuals.

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  Vespa ducalis attacking the nest of a paper wasp
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  Black-tailed hornet in Japan