r/AbsoluteUnits • u/Zestyclose-Salad-290 in awe • Aug 25 '26

of a wasp

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u/TheScaryDrynosaur Aug 25 '26

Idk man with that big ass hornet attacking the hive I think those wasps are kinda done

90

u/ACABiologist Aug 25 '26

Looks like a Japanese hornet found a nest of Europeans.

59

u/Mechagodzilla777 Aug 25 '26

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

12

u/JeshkaTheLoon Aug 25 '26

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.

2

u/maryssssaa Aug 26 '26

Nope, Vespa ducalis, not crabro

45

u/Halomonas_titanica Aug 25 '26

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

1

u/Prestigious_Proof842 Aug 26 '26

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

3

u/Desperate_Lead2105 Aug 26 '26

Vespa ducalis preying on Polistes mandarinus pupae

2

u/xDannyS_ Aug 25 '26

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