Distribution: Native to China, Korea, and Japan. Introduced to Europe and recently Georgia, USA.

Identification: Workers are 0.8 in long, Queens are up to 1.2 in long. Their abodmen is mostly brown on each segement except for the 4th, which is orange-yellow. The thorax is velvety and mostly brown or black. The head/face can be yellow to black. The legs are often brown, ending in yellow.

Resources


Selected Images



Taxonomic Rank


Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Pterygota
Infraclass: Neoptera
Superorder: Holometabola
Order: Hymenoptera
Suborder: Apocrita
Infraorder: Aculeata Latreille, 1802
Superfamily: Vespoidea
Family: Vespidae
Subfamily: Vespinae
Genus: Vespa Linnaeus
Vespa velutina Lepeletier, 1836