Insects › Hornets, Paper Wasps, Potter Wasps, and Allies

Yellow-legged Hornet

Vespa velutina

Easily confused with

Study checks a spoken answer against these, and tells you which one you named.

Where it is recorded

Records by month in Alaska.January 4,220, February 3,117, March 4,884, April 7,683, May 11,078, June 12,080, July 12,926, August 11,116, September 8,161, October 6,092, November 3,329, December 2,602.
United States87,300
Alaska87,287
France3,485
China2,128
Portugal1,926
Spain1,699
Belgium923
Cataluña/Catalunya789
Germany691
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region636

Counts show where people looked, not only where it lives.

Traits

Behavioral

  • EusocialLives in colonies with division of labor and cooperative brood careFrom its classification

Physical

  • ExoskeletonHas a hard external skeletonFrom its classification

Practical

  • StingingCan deliver a painful stingFrom its classification

Classification

KingdomAnimals · Animalia
PhylumArthropods · Arthropoda
ClassInsects · Insecta
OrderAnts, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies · Hymenoptera
FamilyHornets, Paper Wasps, Potter Wasps, and Allies · Vespidae
GenusHornets · Vespa

Sources

Remember the name next time.

Practise Yellow-legged Hornet with real photos from different observers. Say the name out loud, and it comes back just before you would forget it.