Yellow-legged Hornet: a two-minute wildlife lesson

Bees and Wasps · day 4 of 7

Five facts

1. Look at its feet: they are bright yellow. It is clearly smaller than the European hornet, with a dark velvety middle.
2. To hunt, it hovers above a beehive in a small patch of about 0.5 square metres, watching for bees flying home.
3. Western honey bees are easier prey for it than Asian honey bees, which dart quickly in and out of the hive when hornets are around.
4. A colony often moves house: it starts a nest low in a bush, then after some months quickly builds a new one high up in a tree.
5. It probably reached France in 2004, hidden in boxes of pottery from China. By 2015 it was found across most of the country.

The quiz

1. Which part of the yellow-legged hornet gives it its name?

• Its yellow wings
• Its yellow head
• Its yellow feet (correct)
• Its yellow stinger

The species has distinctive yellow tarsi, the end parts of its legs.

2. How does this hornet hunt honey bees?

• It hovers above the hive watching for bees coming home (correct)
• It digs into the hive from below
• It waits at night inside flowers
• It sprays the hive with a liquid

It holds a small area above a hive and scans for foragers returning.

3. Which bees are easier prey for the yellow-legged hornet?

• Asian honey bees
• No bees at all
• Only bumblebees
• Western honey bees (correct)

Western honey bees have not evolved defences against hovering hornets, unlike Asian honey bees.

4. Where does a colony usually build its second nest?

• Underground
• High in a tree (correct)
• Inside a beehive
• Under a rock

After starting low in a shrub, a colony often builds a new nest high in a tree.

5. How is the hornet thought to have reached France?

• Carried by storms
• On migrating birds
• In boxes of pottery from China (correct)
• On a fishing boat from Africa

It is believed to have arrived in 2004 in pottery boxes from China.

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