# Japanese hornet footage



## Trace (Jun 22, 2005)

Great photography
http://www.wimp.com/bee/


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## Hedorah99 (Jun 22, 2005)

Wow, that was actually kinda depressing.  :8o


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## juggalo69 (Jun 22, 2005)

That rocked, where did you find that?


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## Tony (Jun 23, 2005)

juggalo69 said:
			
		

> That rocked, where did you find that?


Somewhere in the old threads?


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## Trace (Jun 23, 2005)

Wimp.com  I saw the footage on National Geographic Explorer around Halloween last year but this is the first I have seen it on the internet.


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## Dark (Jun 23, 2005)

WOW That was Huge BAttle it seems amazing that only 3 of them take down hundreds of bees. I just have to get one of those :drool: 

Eric


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## Tony (Jun 23, 2005)

Does this particular clip show what Japanese honey bees do to those Hornets? The European bees tactics pale...When a scout finds the Japanese bees, they swarm the hornet and cover it in a giant 'bee ball' raising it's temp to a lethal level, which I guess is like 3 degrees BELOW the bee's lethal temp. That way the scout never gets back to report on the location of the hive
T


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## Black Hawk (Jun 23, 2005)

i've already heard of these bad boys but hadn't seen video, they're HUGE wasps. very cool movie :drool:


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## DR zuum (Jun 23, 2005)

tony said:
			
		

> Does this particular clip show what Japanese honey bees do to those Hornets? The European bees tactics pale...When a scout finds the Japanese bees, they swarm the hornet and cover it in a giant 'bee ball' raising it's temp to a lethal level, which I guess is like 3 degrees BELOW the bee's lethal temp. That way the scout never gets back to report on the location of the hive
> T


I was wondering that too,seems tactics win the battle, i have witnessed red wasps and yellowjackets and hornets down south doing the same thing.Seems bees are a target for all these social wasps,but the honeybees either killed the scout,or set up partnerships with bumblebees the big black kind that bore into wood they served as,for lack of better term mercenary forces for hire.Guess american honeybees have developed tactics and associations the japanese counterparts have yet to do.


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## Tony (Jun 23, 2005)

Sorry Dr..In the video imported Euro bees get their clocks cleaned by japanese hornets...On TV they showed that japanese bees of course have developed a defense against thier island bretheren
Tony


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## DR zuum (Jun 23, 2005)

tony said:
			
		

> Sorry Dr..In the video imported Euro bees get their clocks cleaned by japanese hornets...On TV they showed that japanese bees of course have developed a defense against thier island bretheren
> Tony


So the bees in the video were euros from europe or the us?OK i misunderstood that they were imports.But down in mississippi the bees have definitely developed a counter ive seen that.Bumblebees drilled thier holes right by the honeybee hive and busted ass on any wasps that came near.And i've seen that swarming technique on the wasp that was mentioned.


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## vespa_bicolor (Jun 25, 2005)

Big black bees that drill holes sound more like carpenter bees (Xylocopa sp.) ! That would make sense then; the males are highly territorial.


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## galeogirl (Jun 25, 2005)

I saw the Geo special on these wasps.  Fantastic insects!  The ones in the video footage seriously wiped out the bees, it was brutal.


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## Malkavian (Jun 25, 2005)

Havent we seen this before? No matter though,  I happened to be looking for it to show someone  amazing footage. I saw one of these hornets on my back window in western NC a while back...


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## Trace (Jun 26, 2005)

You saw a giant Japanese hornet in NC?  That sucks for NC.


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## Lorgakor (Jun 26, 2005)

Just how big are those hornets? I found that really sad!


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## Scythemantis (Jun 28, 2005)

One would be an amazing pet, though short-lived and highly illegal (these things kill humans!) ...unless you kept, I dunno, a sterilized queen or something (has that ever been done? I know it's possible, though I imagine some species might die without a colony no matter how hard you take care of them, wouldn't they?)


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## vespa_bicolor (Jun 29, 2005)

I have, on two occasions, kept a queen and a worker of _Vespa ducalis_, which is a similar species to the Japanese giant hornet and almost the same size. Wonderful pets. The worker, surprisingly, stayed alive with me for around 5 months! She was quite well trained too; since the enclosure was small and sparse, I let her out for daily flights every morning and at the end, she would fly back into the enclosure herself. Don't ask me how I trained  her, I've no idea myself.   

The queen stayed with me even longer, almost seven months. Actually it doesn't matter if they are mated or not, it is almost impossible for a queen of any large hornet species to build a nest in artificial surroundings.

The one in the photo was the worker.


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## Anthony (Jun 30, 2005)

Now that is a beautiful and impressive insect.


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## Malkavian (Jun 30, 2005)

Trace said:
			
		

> You saw a giant Japanese hornet in NC?  That sucks for NC.



Ah, my mistake now that I look again. What I saw was _Vespa crabro_, European Hornet, but around here every large wasp gets called "Japanese" something or other, that was what I was remembering.

http://arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=30113&highlight=european+hornet

there's my photo


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## Raqua (Jun 30, 2005)

vespa_bicolor said:
			
		

> I have, on two occasions, kept a queen and a worker of _Vespa ducalis_, which is a similar species to the Japanese giant hornet and almost the same size. Wonderful pets. The worker, surprisingly, stayed alive with me for around 5 months! She was quite well trained too; since the enclosure was small and sparse, I let her out for daily flights every morning and at the end, she would fly back into the enclosure herself. Don't ask me how I trained  her, I've no idea myself.
> 
> The queen stayed with me even longer, almost seven months. Actually it doesn't matter if they are mated or not, it is almost impossible for a queen of any large hornet species to build a nest in artificial surroundings.
> 
> The one in the photo was the worker.


How did you keept those ? I mean, could you post simple caresheet please. I'd be interested.


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## jezzy607 (Jun 30, 2005)

vespa_bicolor said:
			
		

> I have, on two occasions, kept a queen and a worker of _Vespa ducalis_, which is a similar species to the Japanese giant hornet and almost the same size. Wonderful pets. The worker, surprisingly, stayed alive with me for around 5 months! She was quite well trained too; since the enclosure was small and sparse, I let her out for daily flights every morning and at the end, she would fly back into the enclosure herself. Don't ask me how I trained  her, I've no idea myself.
> 
> The queen stayed with me even longer, almost seven months. Actually it doesn't matter if they are mated or not, it is almost impossible for a queen of any large hornet species to build a nest in artificial surroundings.
> 
> The one in the photo was the worker.


Have I ever mentioned how envious/jeolous of you I am, because you live in a part of the world where hornet diversity is the greatest!  Hornets are my favorite insects, but all we have is the introduced Vespa crabro.  I would love to see a living specimen of Vespa mandarinia(sp?) some day (but not near her nest!).


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## vespa_bicolor (Jun 30, 2005)

jezzy607 said:
			
		

> Have I ever mentioned how envious/jeolous of you I am, because you live in a part of the world where hornet diversity is the greatest!  Hornets are my favorite insects, but all we have is the introduced Vespa crabro.  I would love to see a living specimen of Vespa mandarinia(sp?) some day (but not near her nest!).


Yes indeed, I love the diversity of social wasps around here. There are five species of hornets I have personally seen, although unfortunately there doesn't seem to be Vespa mandarinia here. I've only seen one specimen of Vespa mandarinia, which my girlfriend caught over in Taiwan (not sure if they are as big as those in Japan?) and which unfortunately died before I could photograph it well. Truly magnificent creature.


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## vespa_bicolor (Jun 30, 2005)

Raqua said:
			
		

> How did you keept those ? I mean, could you post simple caresheet please. I'd be interested.


Actually all I use is a large "critter keeper" type of plastic tank, the substrate being paper towel or sphagnum moss. Usually I mist the tank twice a day, since they need plenty of fluids or they dehydrate and die fast. I also feed them honey or syrup which I simply drip onto a designated corner of the substrate. They live for months in this way; however one frustrating thing about keeping wasps is that they die if they are not fed for even one day.


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## Raqua (Jul 1, 2005)

Aren't they somehow stressed when they can't fly ??


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## Dark Raptor (Jul 1, 2005)

I had also Vespa crabro colony. I've been keeping them in almost the same way as Vespa_bicolor, but I've built special feeding tray for them.

I started  in a large jar and with one fertilized queen (early photo):






After few days I transfered her into larger terrarium. She built nice hive and produced some eggs. After few weeks I had new workers... but only for 1 - 2 months. High humidity and mould were enough to kill whole colony  :wall: 



			
				Raqua said:
			
		

> Aren't they somehow stressed when they can't fly ??


I would say that sometimes they are really angry. They always try to fly somewhere...

The worst thing is that they produce large amounts of excrements and it is hard to clean their tank.


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## Raqua (Jul 1, 2005)

How about having a mesh at the bottom so excrements will fall out ?


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## vespa_bicolor (Jul 1, 2005)

I have experimented with that once, result wasn't too bad except that the mesh got sticky and hard to clean. 

Dark Raptor, how did you manage to get her to actually start nest building in a captive environment? Great work there! I'm wondering what is the deciding factor, such as a support from which to start the nest, material provided etc.


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## vespa_bicolor (Jul 1, 2005)

Raqua said:
			
		

> Aren't they somehow stressed when they can't fly ??


Mine didn't seem to be so far, or at least didn't show any signs of ill effects. The enclosure I keep most of them is very large (maybe 90 cm high and 60 cm wide). For the hornet I mentioned above, she seemed content with being let out to fly for around 15 to 20 minutes each day.


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## Anthony (Jul 1, 2005)

Would it be possible to maintain them in an all mesh terrarium like chameleons and other lizards are kept in ? In some larger models they would have a little flying room.


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## vespa_bicolor (Jul 1, 2005)

If only I had the space, I would try it. In fact, I always wanted to build a very large wire mesh enclosure, furnish with logs and other retreats and introduce a queen of one of the large ground nesting species such as Vespa  tropica or Vespa ducalis. 

For now, it's still just a dream


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## Randolph XX() (Jul 1, 2005)

Hey Vespa
there are people farming Vespa affinis in Taiwan for both nests and hornets, and this is the only species can be farmed due to the smaller territory they need compare to other vespa sps


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## vespa_bicolor (Jul 1, 2005)

Vespa affinis is another nice species. I heard that in Taiwan they are possibly the most common Vespa and the most urban ranging species?

Something interesting here. Currently staying for a couple of weeks in Singapore, I discovered an area where Vespa affinis frequently forage and hunt flies. I tied mealworms one by one to a fishing line, dangled and jerked them, upon which the hornet would immediately strike and carry the mealworm off to a nearby tree or grassy patch. It would simply bite the mealworm in half to disengage it from the line! Unfortunately I managed to capture only these two pics, which are far from perfect.


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## Randolph XX() (Jul 2, 2005)

ya it is the most common sps
there was a nest in my balcony , but my dad called the firemen removed it several yrs ago
they are the tamest sps compare to local Vespa basalis , which had killed lotta people
however, they are more like mountain sps and pretty rare


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## Dark Raptor (Jul 6, 2005)

vespa_bicolor said:
			
		

> Dark Raptor, how did you manage to get her to actually start nest building in a captive environment? Great work there! I'm wondering what is the deciding factor, such as a support from which to start the nest, material provided etc.


I don't know. I just gave her some dry pine (Pinus sylvestris) wood and paper. She builded few chambers and produced some eggs.

I've never repeated this again, because I don't keep any Hymenoptera species now (I'm concentraiting on beetles).


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## vespa_bicolor (Jul 6, 2005)

Hmm... should give it a try. I just found a Vespa affinis queen yesterday.


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## Raqua (Jul 7, 2005)

How can I tall that the specimen I caught is queen ???


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## Dark Raptor (Jul 7, 2005)

Raqua said:
			
		

> How can I tall that the specimen I caught is queen ???


If you find living specimen during winter or in the early spring, you can be almost sure that it is queen.

Some pictures showing queens and workers you will find here (check markings on abdomen):

http://www.vespa-crabro.de/koenigin.htm
http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/i...reshwater/Vespa_crabro/more_still_images.html
www.vespa-crabro.de/ hornets2.htm

And great article about rearing european hornets:
http://www.biologie.uni-halle.de/zool/mol_ecol/publications/HoffmannNeumannSchmolz.pdf


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## vespa_bicolor (Jul 7, 2005)

Also, queens of hornets and common wasps are usually far larger than most workers.


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## Malkavian (Jul 11, 2005)

Trace said:
			
		

> You saw a giant Japanese hornet in NC?  That sucks for NC.



Actually I think I did see one today on campus in Charlotte, NC. Didnt have my camera though. I do know for sure it wasn't a european hornet, colors were totally different.  Also observed its abdomen pulsing or twitching while it was landed on something, does that mean anything?


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## jezzy607 (Jul 12, 2005)

Malkavian said:
			
		

> Actually I think I did see one today on campus in Charlotte, NC. Didnt have my camera though. I do know for sure it wasn't a european hornet, colors were totally different.  Also observed its abdomen pulsing or twitching while it was landed on something, does that mean anything?


It just means it was breathing.  If you had V. mandarinia in your area, the local beekeepers would be the first to know, and it probably would have been reported by now and made some headlines.  They are a very large hornet, even bigger than the V. crabro, and they are extremely territorial of both their nest and food!


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