Little Monsters Part 22: Vespa mandarina japonica!

mweich (66)in #photography • 8 years ago

This one is truly a monster!
My keen eyed son spotted this Giant Hornet on the ground, after poking it a few times with a stick I came back and scooped it into a jar (with a lid), where I left it for a few hours to make sure it wasn't moving because it was dead rather than just very cold. It's not a good idea to bring a live wasp this big into the house only to wake it up angry!

Last year, I spotted one of these downed workers on the ground, but did not pick it up. I did regret that a bit as it would have made a wonderful macro subject, so this time I was sure to get it. A bit macabre perhaps but certainly fitting with the season.

Interestingly, due to a rigid exoskeleton freshly dead insects are virtually indistinguishable from live ones. While almost all of my subjects are living and in their natural environment, I made an exception for this potentially dangerous model. It will be respectfully interred later. I much prefer to see insects, alive and well, in their natural environment and don't particularly care for museum collections of rows and rows of pinned specimens, insectariums and butterfly houses are much nicer.

Japonica is a subspecies of Vespa mandarinia which is confined to the Islands of Japan. Both species reach very similar size and it's probably a result of national pride as to which is the largest in which publication you read.

This one has curled in a bit due to being dead, but in a living posture it would be about 30mm long. The queen, which does overwinter is slightly larger around 35-40mm.

I have written earlier about this species of wasp, though those pictures were from a much greater distance: Giant Japanese Hornet

Comments and feedback are always welcome.

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Also, if you like macro photography, check out some of the earlier posts in this series.

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8 years ago in #photography by mweich (66)

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shieha (70) 8 years ago

Imagine waking up to that thing in your face :) Good find!

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mweich (66) 8 years ago

I'd rather not! Even though I'm 110% sure it's never going to move again, I still put the lid back on the jar!

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leylar (71) 8 years ago

Wow !!! What kind of eyes has an Hornet!

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mweich (66) 8 years ago

They're rather interesting, the large compound eyes have a comma like shape, and the notch in the comma is where the antennae are placed!

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thecryptofiend (74) 8 years ago

Now that is terrifying! Fortunately my cat Snowy seems to love eating wasps so they don't get near me now.

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mweich (66) 8 years ago

Wow, I've had cats that ate all kinds of wildlife, from shrews to squirrels and birds but I don't think any ate wasps! I'd keep Snowy away from these ones though, in larger numbers these are dangerous to humans.

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thecryptofiend (74) 8 years ago (edited)

She has single handedly removed all the wasps from our garden. I have seen her pluck them out of the air with her paw - it is almost too fast to see with human eyes. There used to be a nest and she basically ate all of them. Since then we very rarely get wasps in our garden. We have had no new nests so it seems the wasps have told their friends to stay away.

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