Vespa velutina

Basic information
Scientific name	Vespa velutina	Click to magnify
Common names	Yellow-legged hornet, Asian black hornet,
Higher taxon	Vespidae, Vespoidea, Hymenoptera
Natural range	Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Bhutan, China, Taiwan, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia
Habitat	Rural and urban area.

Invasion information
Range in Japan	Tsushima Is. in Nagasaki Pref.
Origin	Unknown
Date	It was firstly recorded in 2013, therefore it had invaded in 2012.
Route	Unknown
Impact	Impact for the bee industry. Competition with native hornet species. Disrupting pollination services.
Regulation in Japan	Import, transport and keeping are prohibited in Japan by the Invasive Alien Species Act.
Introduced range in other countries	France (before 2004), South Korea (since 2003), Spain (since 2010).

Reference

Notes

Carpenter & Kojima (1997) Checklist of the species in the subfamily Vespinae (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Natural History Bulletin of Ibaraki University. 1, 51-92
Choi et al. (2012) Distribution, spread, and impact of the invasive hornet Vespa velutina in South Korea. Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology. 15, 473-477
Villemant et al. (2011) Predicting the invasion risk by the alien bee-hawking Yellow-legged hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax across Europe and other continents with niche models. Biological Conservation. 144, 2142-2150
GB Non-native Species Secretariat (Accessed on 2013-12-03)
vespa-biocolor.net (Accessed on 2013-12-03)
etc.