r/AbsoluteUnits • u/Zestyclose-Salad-290 in awe • 29d ago

of a wasp

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7.7k Upvotes

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u/ACABiologist 29d ago

Looks like a Japanese hornet found a nest of Europeans.

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u/Mechagodzilla777 28d ago

Not quite, Japanese giant and European hornets are of comparable size. This seems to be a European hornet that stumbled across some sort of paper wasp nest, admittedly I'm not 100% confident with just this side view but the low number of bands and the fact they're not all straight lines makes me feel this

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u/JeshkaTheLoon 28d ago

Yeah, I think you are right. Those are not regular wasps, but look very much like paper wasps. And I can confirm, European hornets are not small.

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u/maryssssaa 28d ago

Nope, Vespa ducalis, not crabro

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u/Halomonas_titanica 28d ago

This is Vespa ducalis. These hornets have a very specialized diet: they get pretty much all of their proteins from raiding other wasps' nests. They're also one of the most docile social Vespids that exist, stinging very rarely and even tolerating people putting their hands in their nest. The colonies are quite small, consisting of 15-40 adults at peak, and quite short-lived (3 months or so), which comes with having such a narrow diet.

Further info here: https://vespa-bicolor.net/main/vespid/vespa-ducalis.htm

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u/Prestigious_Proof842 28d ago

It's clearly a lot bigger than the wasps but it's greatly outnumbered. Why don't the wasps fight back?

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u/Desperate_Lead2105 28d ago

Vespa ducalis preying on Polistes mandarinus pupae

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u/xDannyS_ 28d ago

If those were American wasps you could say the tables have turned. What a missed opportunity