Everything you wanted to know about hornets. Giant Asian murder hornet. Giant hornet, the largest in the world

[

In spring, many country houses become a haven for hornets. In this regard, the owners are interested in the question of where the giant hornet is found and whether it could pose a danger to Russian owners of suburban real estate. First of all, it should be noted that giant hornets are European territory do not meet, but here in Asian countries they pose a fairly big threat not only to people’s health, but also to people’s lives.

Who are hornets

Hornets are large insects, reaching a size of 5.5 cm. The hornet's sting, 6 mm long, is especially dangerous. Using it when biting, the insect injects poison, which has a strong toxic effect. Scientists have found that the poison contains a dangerous substance, a neurotoxin, that can block cells. nervous system. There are cases where people died after several insect bites.

Hornets are predators. They, like their close relatives wasps, feed on smaller insects. Flying hunters like to place their nests in houses and on the plots of gardeners and vegetable gardeners, where many harmful insects accumulate, attracted by the smell of cultivated plants. At the same time, being orderlies, hornets are capable of biting humans, so getting rid of a dangerous neighbor is simply necessary.

The Asian giant hornet is widespread in the region from India to China and Korea, and is found in Japan and the Far East. The lifespan of an insect colony consisting of tens of thousands of individuals is short: about 8-12 months, but during this time it is capable of killing several people.

The formation of a colony begins with the hornet's uterus. Waking up after hibernation, she builds a nest, then lays eggs in it. After 3-4 weeks, the colony is replenished with thousands of individuals playing the role of soldiers or workers. The main task of hornets is to obtain food, which is necessary for the larvae maturing in their houses. Giant hornet It has large and powerful jaws, with which it easily bites insects and grinds them into a sticky mass. This protein “porridge” serves as food for future individuals.

Some subspecies of Asian hornets are distinguished not only by their enormous size, but also by their color, due to which they are called marbled. Like their closest relatives, marbled hornets build nests from young tree bark, grinding it into a paper-like mixture held together with sticky saliva.

The Asian giant hornet causes the greatest harm to apiaries, destroying domestic bees. Within a few hours, 2-3 dozen hornets can kill an entire swarm of bees. They eat honey, and take pupae and larvae of bees to the nest to feed their offspring.

How to avoid hornet stings

Despite their aggressive appearance, hornets will never attack a person first. There must be some reason for the attack: most often it is the presence of a person near the nest. As a rule, the nest is constantly guarded by several individuals, which make characteristic sounds when in danger. At the signal, the rest of the hornets flock and together attack the enemy.

To avoid insect bites, you should:

• when going into the forest, behave extremely carefully and avoid places where hornets may be located;
• when you find a nest, do not touch it, do not shake it or throw it to the ground;
• do not try to catch an insect;
• do not wave your arms or make sudden movements;
• do not kill or attack an insect near the nest, as the distress signals it sends will cause a whole swarm of angry hornets to appear;
• exercise extreme caution when collecting berries and fruits from the garden (hornets love to feast on sweet fruits and gradually bite into their pulp completely);
• do not use deodorants and food fragrances that can cause alarms (for example, apple and banana fragrances containing C5 and C10 esters and alcohols).

If the hornet does bite, the consequences will depend on the location and number of bites. Thus, the sting of a common hornet is capable of releasing up to 2 mg of poison at one time, while the substance is less toxic than the poison of ordinary domestic bees. The venom of Asian individuals is more toxic, which is why the symptoms are more pronounced. With a local reaction the following will be observed:

• burning severe pain;
• inflammation;
• swelling.

In addition, if a person is bitten by an Asian hornet, symptoms such as:

• dizziness and headache;
• dyspnea;
• convulsions;
• increased body temperature;
• nausea and vomiting;
• decrease in pressure;
• difficulty breathing.

In order to minimize the impact of toxins on the body, it is necessary to wipe the wound that received the sting with hydrogen peroxide or a solution of potassium permanganate and apply a heating pad to the bitten area. cold water or ice.

The fight against insects must begin in the spring, when the colony has not yet grown.

First of all, you need to find a nest. What does an insect nest look like? It can be located in the attic, in another secluded area of ​​the house or under the roof. Here you should see the spherical design gray, which can measure up to 60-70 cm in height and resembles a huge fruit.

The poison itself contains a large number of histamine is a substance responsible for the rapid development of allergies. In addition to this, the components included in the hornet's venom stimulate the release of their own histamine by tissue cells that were directly stung and began to swell.

The human body's standard response to a giant hornet sting is widespread inflammation, redness and hardening of tissue, swollen lymph nodes and fever. If the victim is particularly sensitive to insect venoms, after being bitten by the world's largest hornet, he may develop anaphylactic shock.

In this most life-threatening situation, time is counted not by hours, but by minutes. If the victim is not taken to the hospital in time, there is a very high probability fatal outcome.

“Several times a year, local residents are admitted to our hospital after being bitten by Vespa Mandarinia. This year there were already two, last year there were four people. One of those four died because the hornets bit his neck and he was unable to breathe due to swelling. He was brought to the hospital in a state of clinical death, and we were never able to start the heart’s function after asphyxia.”

To Nga, Maoming

Lifestyle and habitats of giant hornets

The largest hornets lead the same lifestyle as their other relatives. They live mainly in forests and stay fairly close to water sources. To reproduce, the female begins to build a nest, lays eggs in the first honeycombs of which, and then raises the working hornets that emerge from them.

After this, her duties are reduced only to the continuous laying of eggs, and all work in the nest falls on the shoulders of the working individuals.

They build their hornets from young tree bark, which they chew and turn into a parchment-like mass.

Externally, the nest resembles a huge light gray fruit, the height of which can reach 70-80 cm and the width up to half a meter. Hornets can place their homes either openly, hanging them from tree branches, or hide them from prying eyes in hollows, caves and burrows.

Once a year a large number of females and males appear in the nest. In conditions of severe overpopulation, they fly out of the nest, swarm and mate. After this, the females go to look for places for new, now their own, nests, and the males die.

A little about predatory habits

Like all other hornets, Asian giants are active predators. They eat and feed their offspring mainly with animal food, most often with other arthropods. These huge predators do not disdain their relatives, who are more modest in size.

This insect fully justifies the status of “the largest hornet in the world”: attacks on the nests of other, smaller species of hornets are very common. At the same time, the giants completely destroy the homes of their relatives and destroy all working individuals and larvae.

Especially often, giant hornets attack bees, hunting not only the owners of the hive themselves, but also their honey (adult hornets are very fond of sweets). 30-40 hornets can completely destroy a bee family of 20-30 thousand bees in a few hours.

As you can see, the forces in such an attack are unequal, so beekeepers in China and Japan are very actively destroying the nests of giant hornets and doing their best to scare them away from their apiaries.

What to do if you are stung by a giant hornet

You can easily meet the largest hornet in the world on vacation in China, Nepal, India, Malaysia or Japan. It is worth noting that, even without leaving your country, you can also come across a giant hornet: it inhabits Primorye in sufficient numbers.

There is one recommendation that allows you to remain safe and sound when meeting a huge insect: you should not make sudden movements or wave your arms. In relation to humans, the giant hornet is peaceful and will never attack first without a special reason.

Usually the attack is caused by a person trying to catch an insect or photograph it up close, and one should not be surprised at all if a hornet attacks while trying to “examine” its nest.

In order to avoid various unpleasant consequences, you just need to move away from the place where the hornet was seen - this will be the best option.

However, let's define an algorithm for helping the victim if a bite does occur.

1. You should immediately apply cold to the affected area, preferably wet sugar. This will slow down the spread of poison through tissues.
2. If possible, you need to give the stung person an injection of an antihistamine - Suprastin or Diphenhydramine - as soon as possible (an injection of adrenaline would be optimal).
3. After this, the person must be laid down so that his head is not raised. Do not forget to carefully monitor the appearance of symptoms of an allergic reaction at all times!
4. If swelling spreads quickly, asthmatic breathing appears, or the temperature rises, the victim should be immediately taken to the hospital, if necessary, performing artificial respiration along the way.

In most cases, giant hornet bites occur due to human carelessness. With reasonable behavior and proper observation, this large insect can always be noticed before it senses danger and retreat. This will be the optimal outcome of the meeting reasonable person with the largest hornet in the world.

Interesting video: Asian hornets attack a beehive

Giant hornet in human hands

And in this video you can clearly see the powerful jaws of the giant hornet

Asia's largest deadly insect, it is a giant of the insect world and the largest wasp on the planet.

They live in many areas of Asia from India to Japan, and are found in Korea, China, and also in the Primorsky Territory of Russia.

The body length of the giant hornet reaches 5 cm and is the most poisonous hornet in the world.

It can kill with one bite; the sting, more than 0.5 cm long, injects a complex mixture of enzymes that destroys tissue. The poison contains a neurotoxin that disables the nervous system; an allergic reaction can cause death.

A colony of Asian giant hornets lives only 6 months a year, but during this time they manage to kill about 40 people.

In spring, the queen awakens from hibernation and builds a nest on a dry tree or in a hole in the ground. Here she lays eggs that will turn into workers or soldiers of the hive. Within a few weeks, the hive population increases to several thousand individuals.

Countless larvae scratch the walls of their rooms, thus signaling that they are hungry. They feed on meat that adults bring to them. To feed the ever-hungry larvae, the scout hornet constantly flies out of the nest in search of food.

All sisters serve their queen. Like most wasps, they are carnivores and eat other insects, such as praying mantises. Powerful mandibles or pincers decapitate the victim.

But the hornet does not kill to satisfy its own hunger; it chews its prey into a sticky protein mass, and then brings food back to the hive to feed hundreds of insatiable young.

During the summer, Asian giant hornets are constantly looking for food. When hornets discover a beehive, they mark it with pheromones, which they secrete from glands located on the back of their bodies. This is a signal to attack. Pheromones attract other Asian giant hornets to the hive, where they begin their attack.

But their success does not depend on their number; just one of these hornets can kill more than 300 bees in 1 hour. The Asian giant hornet is much more aggressive than bees. These are cruel, merciless insects.

Obeying instinct, bees guard their hive, but they cannot resist insects that are 5 times their size. In just a few hours, a small group of Asian giant hornets destroys almost 30,000 bees, wiping out the entire colony. This phenomenon cannot be called a battle; rather, it is - mass destruction. Once in a bee hive, the hornets not only feast on honey, they take with them the larvae and pupae of bees, which they will feed their offspring for several weeks.

In order for the scout hornet not to have time to signal to its relatives about the location of the bee hive, the bees must find and kill it. How does this happen?

While keeping an eye on the enemy at the hive gate, the war bees retreat a little and begin to vibrate. These vibrations let other bees know about the attack. They lure the hornet into the hive, and when it kills several bees that specifically sacrifice themselves, the rest attack the scout hornet.

The defenders rush at him and capture him with a wave of their bodies. But they do not sting him, but surround the invader with a dense ring. By vibrating their bellies, they create a ball of heat, in the center of which the hornet is located.

Bees can withstand temperatures up to 50 degrees, and hornets only 46 degrees. The temperature in the center of a dense ring of bees is 47 degrees. For about 20 minutes the bees squeeze the hornet, they themselves die, but others come to take their place.

Their the main objective- do not release the hornet. When the bees manage to cope with the scout hornet, their colony will be saved for some time until other scouts find their nest and notify their relatives.

They also attack. Despite all the caution of the praying mantis, the hornet is a killing machine. With just one bite of their powerful jaws, they decapitate their prey.

Up to 20 species of hornets live on Earth. Some of them are large and dangerous to humans. The largest hornet is the Asian giant hornet. Its body measures up to 5 cm in length, its wingspan is up to 7.5 cm, and its weight is up to 200 g.

This insect is so large that when flying it can be mistaken for a bird, which is why it is called the sparrow bee. Giant hornet stings are poisonous, so people should stay away from these creatures' nests.

Four types of hornets are considered the most common and largest. Their rating is topped by the Asian killer hornet.

1. Asian giant hornet, Vespa Mandarinia

This hornet looks like a huge wasp. Its length reaches 5 cm with a body weight of up to 200 g. These insects have large wings with a span of up to 7.5 cm. If you place it on the palm, it will completely occupy it. This huge wasp has a yellow body with wide black stripes and a yellow head. Two huge eyes on the sides of the head and three small ones in the middle attract attention. These insects live in South-East Asia and in Russian Pomerania.

The bite of such a hornet is very poisonous, its poison is the most toxic among insects. If a person is attacked by a whole swarm, this can even lead to death. In Japan, up to 40 people die every year from Asian hornet bites. But it should be noted that hornets attack only if their nests are destroyed. It is mainly beekeepers who destroy nests, because giant wasps kill bees.

Asian hornets feed on a wide variety of insects. Adults sometimes feast on meat, fish, fruits and berries. Hornets never use poison for hunting. They crush the chitin of their victims with their large jaws. Their prey includes bees, wasps and other forest insects, including pests of forests and fields. That's why hornets are called forest nurses.

These insects live in nests that the queen builds from recycled wood. Hornets' nests look like paper ones. After building the nest, the queen lays eggs. She takes care of the offspring until the workers are born. Then they take food upon themselves.

Males and females that appear later can continue the hornet genus. The males soon die. Working hornets also do not live long; they often die while hunting and defending the nest. Tourists should remember that giant hornets are poisonous, but they will not attack humans without reason.

2. Common or European hornet

Large insect. The body length of the female is 3.8 - 3.5 cm, the male - 2.5 cm. These hornets have a brown color on the head, chest and back of the head. The abdomen is brown, striped below. These hornets are common in Eurasia and North America.

Common hornets often settle in summer cottages, in barns; they can be seen in the hollow of an old tree. They live in nests that the queen builds. The family consists of a queen, females, males, workers and nest protectors. Only females survive the winter, which then form new families. Moreover, hornets never settle in an old nest. They can be distinguished from wasps by their large size and head shape.

These hornets feed on insects, but can feast on the remains of raw meat, fruits, and berries, just like wasps. European hornet stings are poisonous, but not as poisonous as Asian hornet stings. The bitten area swells, headache, and fever. If a person is very sensitive to insect venom, a state of shock may even occur. Cases of death from European hornet bites are very rare. It is better for a person not to meddle in the nest of these insects, then they will not touch him.

This insect has a body length from 3.5 cm to 2.5 cm. It is similar in size to the European hornet, but its appearance is original: its abdomen is black, its wings are brown, and it has no stripes. Only in this species the queen does not build nests on her own.

A large insect, queens are up to 3 cm long, working hornets are up to 2 cm. The difference between this species is a wide yellow stripe that runs along the abdomen and a yellow spot on the head. Like all hornets, this species has two large and three small eyes and powerful jaws.

These large wasps live in North Africa, Madagascar and southern Russia. They are found in steppe and desert areas, so nests are built underground. These hornets are predators and feed on insects. Their bites are toxic; they attack people when their offspring are at risk.

• Big hornets- the most interesting insects of our planet. These are highly organized creatures. In each nest, the main one is the queen, who gives birth to offspring. Females and males continue the race. Workers and guards hunt and protect the nest. There are even individuals responsible for cleaning the nest.
• Only female hornets have a sting, although it is difficult to distinguish them externally, so you need to be wary of everyone. Hornets can sting repeatedly, which is why they are more dangerous than wasps.

• These insects do not attack unless their nests are disturbed. Even if you see their nest in your attic, do not disturb it until the fall. When the queen leaves the nest, it needs to be removed and the cracks caulked.
• Hornets eat a wide variety of insects, so they serve as orderlies and are useful. But at the same time, hornets harm beekeeping.

• In Germany and Austria, a fine of 50,000 euros is imposed for destroying a hornet nest. They were taken under protection because the number of these insects had dropped sharply.
• The largest hornet in the world is the Asian giant hornet. This insect is 5 - 6 cm long and weighs up to 200 g. Its bites are very poisonous, but this hornet attacks humans only when its nests are destroyed. It's dangerous, but beautiful creature- one of the wonders of our nature.

Among all Asian insects, the Vespa Mandarinia hornet is one of the most famous. This is not surprising, if only because huge size make it extremely noticeable: a huge wasp with a body length of 5 cm and a wingspan of up to 6 cm somehow naturally attracts the attention of a tourist or traveler. It is not for nothing that in Asian countries this insect is also called the sparrow bee - for its impressive size.

However, the Asian hornet has another popular name - it is called the tiger bee for its extremely painful stings. U local residents, in contrast to the enthusiastic reviews of tourists, the Vespa Mandarinia hornet has rather gained notoriety: its bite is deadly, especially for a person with hypersensitivity to insect poisons. If several giants attack at the same time, they can easily bite or cripple almost any person to death.

Among other things, the Asian bee is the threat of all honey bees, so beekeepers in Thailand, India and Japan regularly suffer serious losses from invasions of these predators.

This is interesting

The Vespa Mandarin hornet is one of 23 species of the hornet genus, which also includes common European relatives. The size of this insect is just a simple anatomical adaptation to a hot climate (large-sized animals tolerate high temperatures more easily because they have a larger surface area for heat transfer to environment). In addition, due to its size, this giant can count on a large number of potential victims, even those comparable in size to it. Otherwise, the huge Asian hornet is very similar to its other relatives.

As for Russians, we are mainly interested in the Vespa Mandarinia hornet as one of the dangers that can lie in wait when traveling through the exotic Asian region. Therefore, information about what the giant Asian hornet looks like, as well as how to avoid its bites, will never be superfluous.

Distinctive features of the tiger wasp

Asian murder hornets are generally similar in body shape and general color tones to ordinary hornets: they are also yellow with black stripes. However, individual color details still distinguish them from each other.

So, if the Vespa Crabro hornet, better known as the common European hornet, has fairly thin black bands on its yellow body and a dark red head, then the Vespa Mandarinia hornet is characterized by much thicker and more expressive black stripes on its body, as well as a yellow head.

Visually, it is the light-colored head with two big eyes attracts attention the most.

The video shows Asian hornets caught in a sticky trap:

Giant Asian hornets caught in a sticky trap

Interestingly, the giant Vespa Mandarinia has three small accessory ocelli between the two main large eyes. These additional organs of vision help the hornet distinguish dark from light and navigate in space.

The photo shows an Asian hornet from the front. His extra eyes are clearly visible:

And yet, the main distinguishing feature of the giant hornet, which makes it possible to distinguish this insect from other relatives, is, of course, its size. With its spread wings it almost overlaps a person’s palm, so at the first meeting it seems not quite real, but as if made deliberately unnaturally large. Such sizes help the hornet primarily to obtain food that is inaccessible to smaller relatives.

Lifestyle and nutrition of the Asian giant hornet

The Asian giant hornet leads the same lifestyle as all other members of the Vespa genus.

Hornets live in paper nests made from chewed pieces of young tree bark, held together by sticky salivary secretions. Generates new family the founder female, who at the beginning of the warm season simply lays several eggs in the place where the nest will later grow.

At first, the female herself obtains food for the larvae, takes care of them and looks after them. However, already a month after laying the eggs, young hornets hatch from them, which, in turn, take on all the worries of feeding new larvae and protecting the family. The uterus greatly limits its role - it continues only to lay eggs until the end of its life.

The Vespa Mandarinia hornet is not picky in its diet: the basis of its diet is a variety of insects. The huge Asian hornet will also not mind eating meat or fish washed ashore, fruits and berries. Unlike adult individuals, the larvae are fed exclusively on animal food, however, this feature is also characteristic of all other hornets of the Vespa genus.

This is interesting

Hornets almost never use their poisonous sting to get food. They kill other insects with powerful jaws, which literally crush the chitinous coverings of their victims.

The largest hornet in the world is distributed quite widely: it is found throughout Southeast Asia and reaches Russian Primorye, where it is quite common and numerous.

It is worth noting that the species Vespa Mandarinia in different points its range is divided into several subspecies. So, in Japan, for example, there is a subspecies that is endemic only to island territories.

In general, hornets of this species are common in different biotopes, but most of all they prefer forests and various light groves. Thus, it will not be possible to meet the Asian hornet in high mountains, steppe and desert areas.

Venom of Vespa Mandarinia and its effect on humans

The Asian giant hornet is very poisonous: its poison is considered one of the most toxic among all insects in general. However, due to the fact that this huge predator does not inject the entire supply of poison into the wound when biting, in general, the bite of an Asian hornet is, although extremely painful, but for a healthy person with normally functioning immune system mortal danger has no idea.

On a note

Every year in Japan, about 40 people die from giant hornet bites. Thus, the hornets here set a kind of anti-record - no other wild animal can “boast” of such indicators.

Photo of an Asian hornet sting:

Due to the presence of several protein toxins in the hornet's venom, its entry into soft tissues immediately activates cell lysis, which is accompanied by instant swelling and inflammation. The presence of histamine and acetylcholine in the poison - substances that ensure the occurrence of an immediate immune response and the transmission of neuromuscular reactions - causes a sharp pain effect, sometimes accompanied by a state of shock in the victim.

“After the hornet bite, I spent three weeks in the hospital. I had huge swelling all over my side and I couldn’t move my arm. The bite itself is simply monstrous - as if a drill is being drilled into the body with an ordinary drill. When the insect bit me, I barely managed to get home and lost consciousness. My wife already called the doctors. And one of my friends died a year ago from a hornet attack.”

Tai Won Xing, Girin

A quite typical response of the body to a hornet sting is considered to be extensive tissue swelling, which was already mentioned above, increased heart rate, headaches and fever.

However, in people sensitive to insect toxins, even one giant hornet sting can cause anaphylactic shock and death. If there were numerous bites, then in this case, even for a healthy person, the attack is fraught with tissue necrosis, extensive hemorrhages and damage to internal organs.

Reproduction of giant hornets

Now let's look at how procreation occurs in the Vespa Mandarinia hornet. There are several key points to highlight here.

1. The giant hornet family exists for no more than one year.
2. When the housing of these huge wasps grows to a decent size, and there are quite a lot of working individuals themselves, the queen begins to lay eggs, from which males and females capable of reproduction hatch.
3. At a certain point, these mature individuals swarm and mate, after which the young males die, and the females look for secluded shelters and remain in them until spring.
4. For the rainy season (and in the Primorye region for winter) old family completely dies out because the queen stops laying new eggs.

It is worth noting that sometimes all Vespa hornets do not survive to the time of natural death, since they die from ticks or infections.

A disaster for humans or an adornment of nature?

In a global sense, giant Asian hornets are, of course, dangerous to people, but this danger is not critical, since it is entirely provoked by man himself. These insects are not very aggressive by nature; they will only attack in self-defense or protecting a nest.

Hornets cause much more damage to apiaries, especially those where less aggressive European honey bees are bred. Sometimes hornets manage to destroy an entire bee family in a few hours, and therefore local beekeepers wage an ongoing systematic fight against them.

In general, the mortality rate from giant hornet bites is quite high: in some regions, up to 100 people die per year. But in fairness, it should be said that most of the dead are the same beekeepers who, without special means of protection, actively destroy hornet nests and, as a result, fall under their massive attacks.

A simple tourist who accidentally finds himself in the forest next to the Vespa Mandarinia hornet should not be afraid of this insect - it will not attack without a reason.

On a note

In the West, many dietary supplements add synthetic substances similar to the secretion contained in developing hornet larvae. These components are believed to increase human endurance. However, there is no experimental evidence for these claims.

In conclusion, it should be noted that for wildlife, giant hornets are one of the most active natural orderlies. They successfully destroy many forest and agricultural pests, therefore, in most biocenoses - including agricultural lands - they are useful and deserve protection.

Several dozen hornets completely destroyed a bee hive

Centipede vs Asian giant hornet: who wins?

The Asian giant hornet is the largest representative among its fellows. The insect is difficult to miss due to its bright color and significant wingspan. The official name is vespa mandarinia. The pest is not found in Europe. The territory where it lives is limited to Asia: the Far East, Japan, China, Korea, as well as India, etc.

Vespa mandarinia represents 1 of 23 species of insects in the hornet genus. These are predators that are capable of causing significant harm to humans, however, their task is different. Hornets prey on some small insects, which on the one hand is good, since most often these are pests that destroy useful crops.

On the other hand, vespa mandarinia kills bees, which is detrimental to beekeeping. Thanks to its large size, it is able to hunt effectively, and in addition, the structure of the insect’s body is determined by the need for increased endurance in areas with a hot climate.

How to distinguish the Asian hornet from other species?

The pest is several times longer than a regular wasp. Thus, the body size of a giant insect reaches 5 cm. The wingspan is also significant - up to 7.5 cm. In some ways, the large Asian hornet resembles a wasp. However, there is more similarity with the common hornet, which is found in Europe.

Features of appearance: a huge wasp with a body length of 5 cm and a wingspan of up to 6 cm

The body color of vespa mandarinia is yellow-black. Head – bright ( yellow color), chest – dark (black). The underparts are striped, but are characterized by wider stripes. There are long mustaches on the head.

Difference in size: Left - wasp, Right - giant hornet

One of the differences between the pest is its 5 eyes, two of which are large and three are small, located in the center. Additional organs of vision contribute to improved orientation in the area, in addition, the central eyes help the pest distinguish between light and dark colors.

In addition to the two main eyes, there are three eyes in the middle of the head. Which provides the ideal viewing angle

All these characteristics together make Vespa mandarinia a more noticeable insect. In the extended position, the wings overlap the human palm. This makes the pest noticeable, however, it will not protect against attack, since the insect develops a significant flight speed. You can only prevent contact with the pest by noticing the shelter or the pest itself in advance.

Lifestyle and eating habits

The Asian giant hornet does not differ in behavior from its counterparts of other species. The female begins to build a nest in early spring. However, its dimensions are significantly smaller than the final version. The main task for at this stage- lay the beginning of a colony, for which the female lays the first eggs. Then larvae emerge from them. They are formed into adults, which take on the responsibility of providing the queen and the “young animals” with food, and also perform the function of protecting the nest.

Asian hornets leave their shelter when necessary. However, the queen always remains in place, since after feeding the first generation of insects, its main function becomes a further increase in the number of the hornet colony. The feeding habits of insects are varied. They usually eat insects different types: flies, caterpillars, bees, spiders, etc. However, pests can feast on meat and fish. Their diet includes fruits and berries.

They almost never use their sting to extract food. Kills other insects with powerful jaws

The food for the larvae is not so varied. For them, their adult counterparts hunt for insects. Adults hunt using only their own rather powerful mouthparts.

Reproduction process

Most pests die by the beginning of the rainy season in Asian territory. In Primorye (Russia), adult individuals die closer to winter. This means that insects live less than a year.

They live in paper nests made from chewed pieces of tree bark, sealed with salivary secretions.

Most of the colony are workers. When the number of pests has increased significantly, the queen lays eggs, from which females and males capable of reproduction emerge.

Then the mating period of insects begins, at the end of which the males die. Females remain alive to procreate. Their further task is to find a suitable shelter for wintering. In the spring they emerge to begin the establishment of a colony. Many adults die much earlier than expected. This is facilitated by various kinds of infections, mites or other insects that attack en masse, for example, bees in Asia.

How does poison affect humans?

The Asian giant hornet is known for its painful stings and the extremely poisonous substance it injects under the skin of its prey. Due to the fact that these pests do not have a jagged sting, like bees, they attack many times without the slightest harm to their body.

Its poison is considered one of the most toxic among all insects in general.

The venom of the giant hornet is considered the most dangerous. However, upon contact with an insect, a person often survives, since the pest injects only part of its supply of the toxic substance.

After a single bite, physically healthy man will survive. However, with multiple contacts, the likelihood of death increases. This is possible if several adult hornets attack.

Most cases of contact with pests are united by a common reaction: severe allergic manifestations due to the presence of histamines in the toxic substance; swelling, the onset of an inflammatory process as a result of the presence of protein toxins; severe pain.

When a huge Asian hornet bites you, the symptoms can vary. It all depends on how the body reacts to third-party substances. In addition to the main manifestations (swelling, redness), other symptoms may occur: fever, headache, tachycardia.

The body's first response to a sting is soft tissue swelling

The body of some patients is extremely sensitive, so even a single bite leads to death, which precedes anaphylactic shock. Typically, with multiple attacks on a physically healthy and less sensitive organism, tissue necrosis and hemorrhage are observed as a result of damage to internal organs.

Harm and benefits of insects

Significant harm and serious consequences as a result of contact with a giant hornet occur only if a person provoked the insect with his actions (usually sudden movements and an attempt to approach). This type of pest is not characterized by unlimited aggression. However, he is able to actively defend himself and his nest if he feels threatened. However, 40-100 people die from the poison of these insects every year.

The giant Asian bumblebee (as the hornet is called) causes the main damage to apiaries. It destroys a beekeeper's property in a matter of hours. Of course, this will require a group of insects. One hornet cannot cope with many bees. European bees are destroyed the fastest, as they are harmless.

Asian honey insects are capable of attacking a giant pest in a large group. At the same time, the bees begin to actively flap their wings, clinging to the hornet. It dies from a sharp increase in temperature within the radius of a living ball of honey insects.

They cause greater harm to apiaries, especially where less aggressive European bees are bred.

By and large, Asian hornets are more beneficial. They feed on insects that destroy cultivated plants agricultural land, as well as forest pests. For this reason, it is not recommended to destroy hornets en masse. It's better to take precautions.

Interesting video: Lifestyle and habits of the giant hornet

How to protect yourself from insect bites?

IN natural environment pests attack if they sense danger. More often this happens when a person gets too close to the nest.

To minimize the negative consequences of an encounter with a hornet, it is recommended to adhere to a number of rules:

• You need to carefully look around the forest area.
• Having discovered a nest, you must not approach it, much less try to touch or destroy it.
• If you see a giant hornet, you don't need to catch it.
• Pests perceive sudden movements of their hands as a threat.
• Once near the nest, there is no need to try to protect yourself by killing the insect. There are often other refuge defenders nearby who will quickly respond to such actions.
• Considering that the hornet feeds on berries and fruits, it is recommended to be careful when collecting fruits.
• The aroma of apple and banana provokes pests, so it is not recommended to use products with such fragrances when going to forest areas.
(No ratings yet, be the first)

The Asian hornet is one of the largest insects that can cause real panic in humans. Indeed, due to its size, it is always noticeable and at the same time in flight it more closely resembles a small bird, which is why in some countries it is called the sparrow bee. In addition, this creature is also very harmful - a flock of such hornets can cause serious damage to a beekeeping farm, and their bites are very dangerous for humans.

It is not for nothing that the Asian hornet is called a giant hornet - among adult individuals there are quite large specimens with body sizes of more than 5 cm

Description

In Latin, the name of this hornet sounds like vespa mandarinia. These insects are noticeably larger than other hornets and the body length of representatives of most subspecies is 5 cm. Moreover, the wingspan of such individuals sometimes reaches 7.5 cm.

On a note! The length of the body of an adult hornet from the head to the extreme point of the abdomen is commensurate with the little finger of an adult, and if it spreads its wings, they will probably cover most of the palm!

The Asian giant hornet belongs to the family of True wasps and has a characteristic appearance for its representatives: the body is yellow, with several transverse black stripes running along it, the base of the abdomen is brown, the head is yellow, and the cephalothorax is almost black. There are three pairs of legs.

As you can see in the photo, the largest hornet in the world has five eyes: one pair is the main one (these eyes are the largest) and three more eyes are located between them.

Upon closer inspection, the appearance of the Asian hornet seems even more unusual - it looks more like an alien creature than an insect

There are several subspecies of the Asian hornet in the world, each of which has its own habitat: Korea, Middle and East Asia, India, Nepal, Russia (Primorsky Krai). And among others, the most famous in scientific circles is the inhabitant of the Japanese islands - Vespa mandarinia japonica. The Japanese hornet has an appearance similar to its Asian “relatives”: a large body, the length of which is about 4 cm, and an impressive wingspan of 6 cm. The range of this subspecies is limited to the above-mentioned territory, where it is found mainly in forest areas.

Nature gave the Asian hornet such dimensions for a reason. Its ability to normal life activities largely depends on them and, above all, this is due to the distribution area of a given insect. As you know, it is very hot in Asia, and therefore it is much easier for large creatures to survive - with a large body area, they are able to give off a sufficient amount of heat to the environment. Small insects quickly die from overheating.

Biology

Asian giant hornets live in the same way as other “relatives” - in families or colonies. These insects make their nests in forests, often in close proximity to ponds and other sources of water. The construction of such a nest is started by the female - she lays the laid eggs in the first comb and raises the offspring that emerge from them on her own. During this period, she cares for the larvae, protects them and feeds them. After a few weeks, the larvae turn into young hornets, which take over all the responsibilities: they get food, cut up the bodies of caught victims, feed newly hatched larvae and protect the nest from enemies. The next grown hornets are already able to mate and reproduce.

On a note! The number of one colony can reach about 300 individuals, but even after this the female continues to lay eggs - all her responsibilities come down to this process!

Over time, the colony of Asian hornets is replenished with new males and females, and when their numbers become too high, they leave the overcrowded nest and mate outside it. Subsequently, fertilized females look for suitable places to build nests and become the founders of new colonies, and the males die.

The settlement and founding of new families in Asian hornets occurs once a year.

Nest

To build nests, females use chewed pieces of young bark, which they fasten together using salivary secretions. At first, the nest has a very modest size - it is several cells with eggs laid in them. As the family increases in size, the nest also grows, gradually turning into a rather large gray cocoon, the height of which can reach 0.8 m and the width - 0.5 m.

The expansion of the nest and the development of hornets in it occurs throughout the warm season. With the arrival of the rainy season or with the onset of winter, all its inhabitants die, and the female stops laying eggs. Thus, the nest exists for no more than one year.

Hornets can build their nests both in open areas, simply hanging the home from tree branches, and in secluded places, for example, in burrows, caves and hollows

Nutrition

The basis of the diet of vespa mandarinia is food of animal origin - various arthropods. Adults, unlike larvae, can also eat berries, fruits and fish carcasses washed ashore.

Japanese giant hornets very often raid the nests of their small “relatives”: more often bees, less often wasps and hornets of other species with more modest body sizes. At the same time, the hunters act with particular cruelty, destroying the entire nest and killing absolutely all its inhabitants. The prey includes bee larvae and pupae, as well as sweet honey. The hornets take all the trophies to their nest, where they later use them for their own food and survival.

On a note! A small flock of Asian hornets (30-40 individuals) is capable of destroying a bee colony of about 20-30 thousand individuals in just a couple of hours!

Beekeeping farms suffer greatly due to such attacks.

It is noteworthy that the huge Asian hornet, having a very poisonous sting, practically does not use it for hunting. It kills prey with the help of powerful jaws located in the front of the head - with them the hornet easily splits the chitinous covers of its victims. Thus, bees, modest in size, turn out to be very easy prey for these giants, and are unable to withstand several hornets.

Apiary owners usually combat these winged pests using radical measures. They find a nest and burn it, drown it, or destroy its inhabitants with insecticides. The main thing in this matter is to be able to get as close to the enemy’s lair as possible and remain unnoticed. But sometimes bees find a way to protect themselves, but they succeed only when only one hornet, the scout, penetrates the hive. The bees surround the stranger and very quickly create a cocoon around him. As a result, the hornet dies from high temperature. If the scout remains unnoticed, then he marks the hive with his secret and after a while arrives with reinforcements.

Danger to humans

Asian hornets are very dangerous. Their main weapon against humans is a long sting, reaching 6 mm in length, with which insects inject nerve poison into the body of the offender.

On a note! The bite of the Asian hornet is very painful, which is why this insect received another nickname - “tiger bee”! Entomologist Masato Ono, who suffered such a bite, described his sensations as follows: “It felt like a hot nail had been pierced into my leg!”

The Asian giant hornet is considered one of the most dangerous insects in the world.

The most dangerous venom of the Asian hornet is for people with allergies to insect stings, in particular wasps and bees. In this case, rapid development of anaphylactic shock is possible, which will require urgent hospitalization. However, even in the absence of an allergic reaction, such a sting can cause very significant discomfort and provoke a deterioration in well-being. The reason for this is the composition of the poison, which includes mandorotoxin, a neurotoxin that is an extremely dangerous substance, as well as acetylcholine, which attracts other hornets.

The toxic substances contained in the venom of the Asian hornet act primarily on the nervous system and can contribute to the development of symptoms such as:

• intense throbbing pain at the site of the bite;
• rapid extensive tissue inflammation;
• redness in the affected area;
• tissue hardening;
• Strong headache;
• dizziness;
• dyspnea;
• cardiopalmus;
• swollen lymph nodes;
• increase in body temperature.

If medical care is not provided in a timely manner, the tissues at the site of the bite begin to deteriorate, which, in turn, can cause damage to internal organs located near the affected area, as well as bleeding and hemorrhage.

Important! It is strictly forbidden to comb the stung area or treat it yourself with any alcohol-containing solutions!

However, it is worth noting that the Asian giant hornet never attacks without a reason. He can show aggression towards a person only in the event of a clear threat to him or the nest that he is called upon to protect. In such situations, the insect will definitely attack and may inflict several bites at once.

And since this hornet can use its sting many times, as a result, a person risks receiving a rather impressive portion of highly toxic poison

On a note! According to statistics, about 40 people die every year from Asian hornet bites. Sometimes this happens through negligence, when people step on a nest in the forest, sometimes when beekeepers protect bee hives, when they try to destroy the enemy’s lair without personal protective equipment!

Actions when bitten

The huge and very dangerous Asian hornet can be found both in Russia and abroad - in large quantities it lives in Asian countries. And if such an unpleasant meeting happened, then the main rule is not to make any sudden movements. Try not to wave your arms and leave the habitat of this insect as calmly as possible.

On a note! Remember, the Asian hornet will not attack without a special reason, and usually the person himself is to blame for its aggression: the curious or wants to look amazing insect closer, or tries to photograph its nest hidden in the foliage as clearly as possible, and some even try to pick up the hornet, forgetting that it has a powerful “weapon”!

And if unpleasant contact could not be avoided, and the Asian hornet bit you or the person next to you, then in this case you need to do the following:

• immediately apply something very cold to the affected area and hold for several seconds;
• then it is advisable to make a compress of wet sugar - thanks to this technique you can slow down the spread of toxins through the tissues;
• take an antihistamine, and it is better to give an injection - antihistamines are necessary, especially if you are not sure of the absence of an allergy;
• The person should be laid on his back and a pillow or cushion of folded clothing should be placed under his head - the head should be elevated.

If the victim’s health begins to rapidly deteriorate, then it is necessary to immediately seek medical help.

Entomologists agree that giant hornets can rightfully be called the most dangerous insects in the world. The toxin of this insect, injected into the blood, is so strong that a person’s death can occur from one bite. In addition, the Asian and Japanese hornets cause enormous damage to beekeeping farms, destroying entire bee families in just a few hours.

Appearance

In appearance, the hornet resembles a huge wasp. Its length can reach 5 cm, and its wingspan can be up to 7.5 cm. The body is yellow in color with black transverse stripes characteristic of all wasps. The base of the abdomen is brown, the cephalothorax is black, and the head is yellow.

The largest hornet in the world, to which the Asian subspecies belongs, has on its head, in addition to the main two eyes, also three additional ones, located in the lower part of the forehead in the form of an inverted triangle.

Weapon of attack

The predator infects its prey with poison, injected with a sting that can be used repeatedly. The composition of this complex substance includes:

1. Mandorotoxin, a neurotoxin that can block the nervous system of humans and animals.
2. Histamine, which causes severe swelling and allergies, often leading to death.
3. Toxic substances that melt tissue, causing unbearable pain to the victim.
4. Acetylcholine - serves to attract other hornets. Therefore, the bitten victim becomes a bait for other individuals of this dangerous insect.

Immediately after a bite, a person develops inflammation, covering a large area around the affected area, hyperemia, swelling and hardening of tissues. Soon the general body temperature rises, the lymph nodes enlarge, the pain continues to constantly increase, shortness of breath, headache appear, and the heartbeat quickens.

In people prone to allergic reactions, asphyxia may develop within a few minutes after the bite, leading to death. In this case, only very quick hospitalization can save you.

Development cycle

Most hornets live in forests near open water bodies. Waking up from hibernation in May, the queen begins to gnaw the bark of trees, which, after chewing, turns into a mass resembling parchment paper. From it, the insect builds a hive, which can hang freely on a tree in the form of a giant pear-shaped fruit or be hidden in caves, hollows or the ground.

After construction is completed, the female lays eggs in honeycombs, the number of which can reach 500 pieces, and seals them tightly. Larvae develop from eggs in 5 to 8 days, held in the cell by a sticky secretion. Then they begin to scratch the walls, signaling hunger. Adults feed them with killed insects, having previously digested them in their mouths.

Thanks to metamorphosis, within 2 weeks the larvae develop into full-fledged working females and drones, which continue to complete the nest while the queen lays eggs.

By the beginning of the first cold weather, the queen, working hornets and drones die. Only fertilized females remain and hibernate, only to give birth to thousands of new individuals in the spring.

Features of hunting

At first glance, it may seem that the Asian hornet and representatives of its subspecies are insatiable, cold-blooded killers. But, in fairness, it is worth clarifying that they obtain the bulk of food for their offspring. And since there are thousands of larvae in the hive, a lot of food is needed.

Throughout the day, scout hornets search for a source of food. Having found a nest of bees, they mark it with a special substance containing pheromones, to which other hornets flock. These aggressive insects are capable of destroying a bee colony of 30,000 individuals at a time. As trophies, the killers take honey, the corpses of bees, their larvae and pupae.

Bees cannot resist a group of giant hornets, but they sometimes succeed in destroying a scout giving a signal. By this they can save themselves and their offspring from attack.

Noticing the approach of the enemy, war bees transmit information about the danger to the others. Several kamikaze individuals sacrifice themselves, luring the hornet into the hive. There, other bees surround him in a tight ring and begin to quickly vibrate their bellies, thereby increasing the air temperature to 50°C, which is destructive for the hornets. This happens for twenty minutes, during which some defenders die, but others immediately take their place in order to prevent the still living predator from breaking through the defense.

For individual insects, things are more tragic. The predator attacks with lightning speed and injects poison, after which it chews the body of its prey with a pair of powerful jaws. For example, the Asian giant hornet can decapitate a praying mantis with just one bite.

Rules of conduct near nests

The Asian giant hornet is not a solitary predator, but lives in colonies. Sensing a threat, it begins to secrete a hormone that notifies other individuals of the danger and gives a signal to attack.

Therefore, while near the hive, you cannot:

• make sudden movements,
• knock on trees
• disturb the nest itself,
• panic and try to escape.

It is very dangerous to kill a hornet near its home, since during the death the insect manages to transmit an alarm signal, which provokes members of its family to aggression. All this can provoke an attack by hornets and lead to quite sad consequences.

A respectful attitude towards other inhabitants of our planet will help maintain balance in nature and prevent an attack by a dangerous predator.

One of the most terrible insects is the Asian hornet. Photo of this creature for last decade appeared in many news reports related to the death of a person. Not to mention the fear it brings to its relatives in the wild.

What makes it so special? Why is the Asian giant hornet dominant over other insect species? And how dangerous is it for ordinary people? All these questions have long troubled the souls of inquisitive naturalists, and therefore it is time to give unambiguous answers to them.

Giant insect

The Asian hornet is the official name of this species. However, every nation has given name for this creature. For example, on the island of Taiwan it is called the “tiger bee” because its sting is very painful. And in Japan I call these hornets “sparrow bees” because of their bulky wings.

And there are many similar examples, but they all boil down to one thing - the strength and size of the Asian hornet. And this is not surprising, because among all 27 species of hornets, it leads by a huge gap. That is why it is also called the giant insect, thereby indicating its amazing proportions.

Habitat

Based on the name, it is easy to guess that this creature lives on the Asian side of the continent. In particular, it can be found in China, Korea, India, Nepal, as well as on the islands of Japan and Taiwan.

Many people are now clearly interested in the question: “Is there an Asian hornet in Russia?” Well, the answer will be yes. In our country, it can be found in the Primorsky Territory, and its population is not modest in size.

Distinctive features

The huge Asian hornet is not much different from its relatives, except for size, of course. Adults grow up to 5 cm in length, making them giants in the insect world.

Otherwise, they strongly resemble wasps and bees, especially in coloring. The entire body of the hornet is divided into yellow and black stripes. At the same time, the head of the “bee-tiger” is always yellow - this is another distinctive feature of it. But most of the wide stripes on the body, on the contrary, have a black tint.

The Asian hornet also has large front jaws that can bite a small insect in half. They are one of the most formidable weapons of the hornet, along with its poisoned sting.

The harsh lifestyle that the Asian giant hornet is used to

With the arrival of the first spring warmth, all the insects begin to crawl out. It was during this period that from his winter sleep The hornet queen awakens. Full of strength and ambition, she goes in search of a new home, which often becomes an empty hollow or hole in the ground.

After which she begins to actively lay eggs, from which her first servants will hatch in 2-3 days. If you believe the research of scientists, then in a few weeks the population of such a family can grow to a couple of thousand individuals.

It is quite difficult to feed such a number of hornets, and therefore the scouts of the hive every day, like crazy, rush around the area in search of profit. Anyone smaller than the “tiger bees” themselves, and sometimes even “relatives” comparable to them, can become food. Even such a formidable representative of the eastern fauna as the praying mantis is unable to control them.

War with bees

However, for some types of insects, the Asian hornet is not just an enemy, but the number one goal. In particular, he wages a brutal war on bees. At the same time, for his little relatives, such a confrontation borders on genocide, but let’s talk about everything in order.

As mentioned earlier, the Asian hornet is very voracious. In order to provide himself and his relatives with the required amount of meat, he looks for more and more new sources of food. Therefore, a beehive for him is like After all, by and large, small bees will not do anything against a flock of huge hornets.

Therefore, for the honey plant workers, the only chance to survive is to destroy the scout before he marks the territory with his pheromones. At the same time, the swarm immediately attacks the hornet, not allowing it to come to its senses. But they do not sting him, but envelop him with their bodies in order to increase the temperature inside the living cocoon.

This method is very effective, since hornets are less resistant to heat than bees. However, more than a dozen small insects die in such battles. And yet such a sacrifice is entirely justified, given the stakes that were at stake.

The danger posed by the Asian hornet

As you know, this insect has two formidable weapons: jaws and sting. And if the first brings terrible pain, then the second can easily take life. And the reason for this is the poison contained in the special glands of the Asian hornet.

As soon as toxins enter the victim’s blood, they immediately begin to corrode the cell structure. For small insects and mammals this is certain death. As for larger representatives of the animal world, in most cases they survive a hornet attack.

But a person will have a hard time if he is bitten by a “bee-tiger”. And if medical assistance is not provided to the victim in time, serious complications can arise. Especially if the victim suffers from an allergy to bee venom. But it will be much worse if there are several bites, because in this case death is almost inevitable.

And this is not just intimidation or false rumors. In Korea alone, up to 40 people can die from hornet attacks in one year. And if we take statistics for all of Asia, the numbers become even worse. This is due to the aggressive nature of the Asian hornet, as well as its close contact with people. Therefore, it would be best to avoid meeting him, and if it has already taken place, then do everything possible to protect yourself and your family from bites.

One of the most unpleasant moments accompanying travel to exotic countries is the prospect of meeting poisonous representatives of the local insect world. One of these creatures is the world's largest hornet with beautiful name Vespa Mandarinia, native to Asia. What this huge relative of the wasps and bumblebees we are used to is and what the threat of its bite is is the topic of our review.

What does the largest hornet look like?

Those who have ever seen a common European hornet ( Latin name- Vespa Crabro), can easily imagine Vespa Mandarinia, mentally enlarging the familiar insect by about two times. Otherwise, representatives of these two species look approximately the same, although there are still some minor differences between them.

Did you know? The smallest insect on the planet has a body length of 139 microns, and the largest-grows up to 60 cm or more. The name of the first is Dicopomorpha echmepterygis, the second is Phasmatodea.

For clarity features the Chinese giant and its European relative are given in table form:

class="table-bordered">

To give a more visual idea of ​​the true size of the Asian hornet, it is enough to say that the length of its body from the top of its head to the tip of its sting is approximately equal to the length of the little finger of an adult man, and its wingspan is only slightly less than the width of a human palm.

Insect life cycle

It should be noted that the gigantic size that distinguishes Vespa Mandarinia from more than two dozen of its closest relatives from the genus Vespa is a shining example evolutionary struggle and the ability of species to adapt to unfavorable environmental conditions.

In addition, in the rich diversity of the animal world, which is typical for tropical countries, large and poisonous insects have a much better chance of finding food for themselves and not becoming victims of natural enemies than their smaller and harmless fellow tribesmen.

Otherwise, the life cycle of these giants is practically no different from that which is characteristic of other species of hornets. Insects live in nests that they build directly on the ground. The material for making the nest is thin and soft (young or, on the contrary, rotten) tree bark, which the female first grinds with her powerful jaws and then glues with viscous saliva. In appearance, such a structure is very reminiscent of paper.

Important! For all inhabitants of areas with hot climates, the possibility of survival directly depends on heat transfer. One method of increasing this indicator is a larger body area, which provides better cooling.

With the retreat of cold weather, even before starting to build a nest, the queen lays several eggs at the place chosen for the future home and then begins to build a honeycomb house over them. In the first days after laying, the queen takes care of all the nutritional needs of the future offspring on her own. After about a week, a larva emerges from the egg, transforming over the course of another two weeks, first into a pupa, and then into a young hornet.

Further functions of the offspring in the nest are distributed as follows:

Where does it live?

As the name suggests, the habitat of the giant hornet is Asia, more precisely the eastern, and also partly its southern and northern parts.

The list of states whose territory Vespa Mandarinia has chosen for itself includes:

• Japan;
• People's Republic of China;
• Taiwan;
• India;
• Sri Lanka;
• Nepal;
• North Korea;
• South Korea;
• Thailand;
• Russian Federation (Jewish Autonomous Region, Primorsky and partly Khabarovsk Territory).

Did you know? Due to its enormous size, the Chinese called the Asian hornet “tiger bee”, and the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun called it “sparrow bee”.

Good ability to adapt to changing conditions allows Asian hornets to master different areas geospace, and yet their favorite habitats are sparse forests, well-lit groves and other areas protected by high vegetation. These insects almost never choose steppes, deserts and highlands to build nests.

What does it eat?

The Asian hornet is practically omnivorous. Its most common food is insects (including smaller hornets), but this giant can just as readily eat fruits, berries, flower nectar, and even meat or fish. Plant food is suitable only for adult hornets, while larvae need products of animal origin.

The hornet extracts food using primarily its powerful jaws; the sting is a tool for protection, not for hunting. Using its jaws, the Asian giant captures prey, kills and then butchers it.

Methods for destroying nests

The greatest harm that Vespa Mandarinia brings to humans lies not in its toxic poison, but in invasions of apiaries. The agriculture of Japan, India and Thailand suffers especially badly from the invasion of killer insects.

Did you know? A dozen Asian hornets can destroy up to 10,000 honey bees in a season.

Consequently, having discovered an Asian hornet nest, people usually try to get rid of such a neighborhood. The problem, however, is that mechanical destruction of a home poisonous insect- a dangerous task and almost impossible in practice. Hornets are capable of desperately defending themselves and, when faced with the threat of losing their home, unite their forces, regardless of possible losses (protection of the family, by the way, is the most common cause of death for a hornet).

People use special methods to destroy nests of dangerous insects.

For example, for this purpose you can:

1. Set fire to the paper house, after pouring flammable liquid over it.
2. Fill the nest with boiling water, but you will need a lot of water, at least 20 liters.
3. Drown the house in water (this method is used if the nest is attached to a horizontal surface from below, and there is no need to remove it, but you can simply dip it in a bucket of water and support the structure with any support).
4. Wrap the structure with a large plastic bag, generously spray a potent insecticide inside and immediately tie the edges of the bag tightly so that the poison does not erode.

Important! All work to destroy a hornet nest must be carried out in the dark, when insect activity is minimal. However, you should know that even at night the hornets do not sleep, but continue to work, only periodically, for about 30 seconds, freezing in immobility.

Before you start dangerous work, you should take personal protective measures: wear glasses, a mask, gloves, and even better, a special suit for beekeeping.

The danger of the giant hornet

The Asian hornet is dangerous not only for bees. Their venom is very toxic, and, given the impressive size of both the individual itself and its sting, in the event of an attack, a larger proportion of the toxic substance is released, compared to other hornets.

The hornet's venom contains several toxins, the most dangerous of which is mandorotoxin, a substance that has a pronounced nerve-paralytic effect. Other toxic components have a destructive effect on the tissues of internal organs, which is accompanied by severe pain. Since hornet venom is similar in its characteristics to bee and aspen venom and is also capable of causing a specific “cumulative” reaction (each subsequent sting is more severe than the previous one), first of all, an attack by an Asian hornet is dangerous for those who already have a history of allergies to bee stings and os.

Another trouble is that at least 5% of the Vespa Mandarinia venom is a special substance - acetylcholine, specially designed so that in times of danger the individual can call for help from its fellow tribesmen. Accordingly, having been stung by a giant hornet (like a wasp, it can use its sting many times), its victim runs the risk of ending up in a circle of angry insects within a few minutes.

Did you know? Scientists have found that it is with the help of odors, or rather the pheromones present in them, that communication occurs between members of the family of insects of the genus Vespa. By sending certain aromatic signals, the queen can give her fellow tribesmen various commands - to work, hunt, attack and defend.

However, it should be noted that the Asian hornet, like its other brothers, is not at all aggressive and never attacks without reason. But if you disturb an insect’s nest or accidentally crush it on your body, a lightning-fast reaction cannot be avoided. Moreover, male hornets do not have a stinger - attacks should only be feared from the queen or a working female.

Bite symptoms

First of all, the bite of an Asian hornet is very painful. According to one of the victims, the sensation is reminiscent of being pricked by a hot nail if you step on it with all your weight. The pain does not go away for a long time and is pulsating in nature.

External signs of a bite are:

• redness of the skin in the affected area;
• rapid spread of inflammation to a wider area of ​​skin;
• the appearance of swelling;
• thickening of the tissue around the bite site;
• swollen lymph nodes;
• hyperthermia, fever.

As the toxin enters the bloodstream, a person may feel:

• shortness of breath, difficulty breathing;
• dizziness, up to loss of consciousness;
• headache;
• nausea, sometimes ending in vomiting;
• rapid heartbeat (tachycardia).

Important! If you have an allergy or multiple bites, the Vespa Mandarinia venom can cause anaphylactic shock and be fatal to humans. So, according to statistics in Japan, up to four dozen people die every year from the bite of these insects.

What to do if you are bitten?

They are similar to those that a wasp victim needs to take, with the only difference being that you need to act even faster.

List of urgent actions:

The Asian hornet is an insect whose bite is fraught with serious consequences, including death, but such cases are still rare. Moreover, if the usual precautions are taken, the likelihood of becoming a victim of Vespa Mandarinia is not that great, since by attacking, the insect is really just protecting itself from danger, real or imaginary.

Among hornets, a special place is occupied by the world's largest representative of this genus - Vespa Mandarinia, or the Asian giant hornet, a photo of which can be seen this year. As the name suggests, it is very difficult not to notice it, since this insect with a brightly colored body measuring up to 5 cm and an even more impressive wingspan of up to 7 cm cannot fail to attract attention. The Asian hornet is extremely dangerous and poisonous. Being able to distinguish it from its more harmless relatives is especially important for those who like to travel to exotic countries of mysterious and unique Asia.

Interestingly, Vespa mandarin is one of the representatives of 23 species of hornets, which include common relatives living in Europe. The size of an insect is an anatomical adaptation to the climate in which it lives. Larger insects find it much easier to transport high temperature, because they have a large surface area for heat transfer to the environment.

Moreover, due to the size of this killer, he can easily count on many victims, including those of comparable size to himself. Otherwise, the insect is similar to its other relatives in appearance.

Appearance and structure of Vespa Mandarinia

In general, the appearance and body structure of the Asian giant murder hornet are very similar to the characteristic features of representatives of all 23 species of these insects. They resemble wasps in color, but differ from them in size and lifestyle.

You can distinguish the Asian hornet from all other insects by the following striking features:

1. Incredibly large size, reaching a ratio of body length and wingspan of 5x7 cm. An adult insect with outstretched wings almost completely covers a woman’s palm and at first glance seems like a plastic toy.
2. The abdomen (back part of the body), painted in alternating black and yellow stripes, appears black from a distance because the dark stripes are wider than the light ones.
3. Breast ( middle part body) is very dark, with a characteristic black pattern.
4. The head (front part of the body) is most often a rich yellow or orange color, which allows you to notice the insect from afar.
5. The paired lateral eyes are very large, deep dark in color, almost black.

In addition to the large lateral eyes, in the center of the front part of the hornet’s head there are three additional ones, thanks to which the insect distinguishes the degree of illumination and is perfectly oriented in space. The Asian hornet sees well even in the dark.

The appearance of the giant insect is very remarkable; the hornet is difficult to confuse with other species or not to notice. But, given the high speed that it can develop when flying, bright identifying signs are not always enough to avoid an unpleasant meeting with the killer, as this eastern giant is also called.

Varieties of the Asian giant hornet

The terrifying appearance and impressive size are just an adaptive mechanism to the conditions external environment and eating behavior. In progress evolutionary development Representatives of this species continued to adapt to natural conditions, which led to the emergence of several subspecies of Vespa Mandarinia.

The most famous endemic is the Japanese giant hornet. This unique insect can only be found on Japanese islands and nowhere else in the world. The hornet is slightly more modest in size than the ordinary Asian giant representative of this species. It also differs from its fellows in color - its abdomen has orange rather than yellow stripes.

Some subspecies of giant hornets are distinguished not by striped, but by marbled coloration of the abdomen. Absolutely all representatives of Vespa Mandarinia are poisonous and dangerous to humans, which travelers to Asian countries should take into account.

Habitats of the giant hornet

Representatives of Vespa Mandarinia are not found in Europe. Their natural habitat is Asian countries:

• Japan.
• Korea.
• China.
• India.
• Thailand.

There they feel very comfortable in the hot and humid environment of the tropics and subtropics. It is curious that in Russian Federation this insect is found in the Primorsky Territory, where the conditions of the monsoon Far Eastern climate are also suitable for comfortable living and reproduction.

Life cycle of the Asian giant hornet

Like other representatives of this group of insects, Vespa Mandarinia live in large colonies in nests. The female begins to arrange the “house”. At the beginning of spring, she builds a modest-sized nest, which will subsequently increase many times in volume and area. At this stage, the female’s task is to lay the foundation of a future colony by laying several larvae. The future queen feeds and protects her firstborns on her own.

After about a month, the first hornets appear and are ready to take care of the next generations of larvae, completing the nest, protecting it and developing the colony.

The queen (queen) remains in the nest forever and spends her entire life laying larvae. All other worries are taken over by the hornets that appear in the nest, which leave it for hunting and other needs.

The colony is growing rapidly. If about a month passes from the first clutch to the appearance of the hornets, then in the next 4-6 weeks the number of insects in the colony can increase to several thousand.

Throughout the entire existence of the colony, all insects, except the queen, have three main concerns: obtaining food for themselves and the voracious larvae, completing the hive to the required size, taking into account the constant replenishment of the family, and protecting the “house” from ruin.

By the first frost, the colony completely dies out. At the end of August - beginning of September, males fertilize females, but the latter no longer lay larvae. First, the number of the colony stops growing, and then begins to decline rapidly. All males gradually die out, and fertilized females find a safe wintering place for themselves. The family never returns to the old nest. In the spring, after waking up, each female will begin to create her own colony in a new place suitable for this purpose.

What does a giant hornet's nest look like?

The Asian murder hornet's nest is made of a paper-like material. Insects chew tree bark, soaking it in a special secretion of saliva. They build their “house” from the resulting sticky mass. After drying, the building material acquires the desired appearance and texture, reminiscent of gray kraft paper.

What does the murder hornet eat?

The larvae of this insect are voracious insect predators. In order to feed them, adults constantly hunt. Hornets prepare a protein pulp from killed insects, which they feed to the larvae.

Adults are also predators, the basis of their diet being any other insects. But they are not averse to eating sweet fruits and berries, and they happily eat fish washed up on the shore. Hornets do not use their poison when hunting; their powerful jaws are enough for them. In search of prey, a group of hornets may raid a beehive or apiary. This is a real disaster for bees because one killer can kill up to 300 bees in a short period of time.

Is there any benefit from Vespa Mandarinia?

In their natural environment, predatory hornets are a natural regulator of the number of other insects. Thanks to this, the ecological balance is maintained. By eating small insects, giant hornets free the forest from pests, which, if uncontrolled, can destroy even large green areas.

The damage caused by giant hornets

The main harm caused by a colony of giant hornets is the destruction of apiaries and the killing of bees. This is truly a natural disaster for Asian beekeepers. Therefore, with dangerous insects In places and habitats found close to agricultural land and human habitation, an irreconcilable struggle is being waged. You always need to be careful, because an encounter with a giant hornet can result in an insect attack for a person, the bite of which can sometimes be fatal.

What does a giant hornet's sting look like?

IN calm state the insect does not show its sting, and you can see it deadly weapon it is forbidden. It is located inside the back part of the body - the striped abdomen.

An insect can attack only in one case - defending the nest or its own life. Hornets do not use their stings for hunting. Unlike bee, it is smooth, so after contact with the skin, it does not remain in the tissues of the victim. The sting of the Asian hornet reaches 5 mm in length. Each individual can strike several times until the toxin runs out.

Why is a murder hornet sting dangerous?

Asian poison huge hornet, a photo of which can be seen in this article, is one of the most toxic substances to humans. That is why the insect received a terrifying nickname - the murder hornet. Every year, in the countries where they live, their victims who do not survive their bites number several dozen.

If a person is absolutely healthy and has no problems with the cardiovascular, respiratory or central nervous systems, he will not die after a single hornet bite. The bite site quickly swells and becomes very painful. But, since there is no poisonous sting left in it, getting rid of unpleasant consequences is quite possible.

How is the Asian giant hornet dangerous for humans? By piercing the skin of the victim with its sting, the hornet injects only a small volume of poison (about 2 mg), which increases the chances of a successful outcome for the bitten person. However, since the hornet can sting multiple times, the situation becomes more severe with each subsequent sting.

The venom of this insect belongs to the group of neurotoxins that negatively affect the activity of the human central nervous system, depressing breathing and cardiac activity. In addition, the poison contains substances that can cause dangerous tissue damage, including necrosis.

For people prone to allergic attacks, with chronic diseases, as well as for children, even a single bite from such an insect can be deadly.

Help for an Asian Killer Bite

The human body’s reaction to the venom of the Asian hornet, a photo and description of which is in this article, can be very different, depending on age, health status, and the number of bites. Therefore, if you are bitten by an insect, you must not waste time and immediately consult a doctor.

Almost always at the site of the bite there is severe swelling, so the doctor usually prescribes antihistamines. Depending on the severity of intoxication and the symptoms that appear, adequate therapy is prescribed using medicines, neutralizing the toxin and eliminating the consequences of its action.

In most cases, hospitalization and round-the-clock medical monitoring of the victim’s condition are required.

How to Avoid a Giant Hornet Sting

Since insects do not attack in a calm state, it is easy to avoid a bite:

• do not touch or destroy the hornets' nest;
• when meeting an insect, do not wave your arms or objects, so as not to provoke it to attack;
• do not eat sweet, juicy foods (for example, fruits) and meat near the colony, so as not to attract insects by smell.

These simple measures are enough to reduce the risk of encountering a murder hornet to a minimum.

Interesting facts about the giant insect

The body weight of the Asian huge hornet can reach 200 grams, and when flying from afar it is often mistaken for a small bird. Therefore, the local population often calls the insect “sparrow bee.”

A colony of giant hornets is a society with a complex social organization, resembling an anthill. Each adult has its own function and working “profession”. In addition to hunters and soldiers, Asian hornets, photos of which are in this article, have nannies, doctors and even room cleaners.

Only females have a sting. But since outwardly they can hardly be distinguished from relatively harmless males, one should be wary of all representatives of this species of insects dangerous to humans.

Note that for nature, these hornets are natural orderlies. They kill a large number of pests of both forests and agriculture. Therefore, insects are useful and need protection.