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The Oriental hornet (''Vespa orientalis'') is a social insect species of the family Vespidae. It can be found in Southwest Asia, Northeast Africa, the island of
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(but no reports have been made of its presence on the island for many years), the Middle East, Central Asia, and parts of
Southern Europe Southern Europe is the southern region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Alb ...
. Oriental hornets have also been found in a few isolated locations such as
Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
and
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...
due to human introduction.Ríos, Mauro; Barrera, Roberto; Contreras, José (2020) Primer reporte del género ''Vespa'' Linnaeus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Vespinae) en Chile. ''Revista Chilena de Entomología'' 46:237-242. 10.35249/rche.46.2.20.14. The Oriental hornet lives in seasonal colonies consisting of caste system dominated by a queen. The hornet builds its nests underground and communicates using sound vibrations. The hornet has a yellow stripe on its cuticle (exoskeleton), which can absorb sunlight to generate a small electrical potential, and this might help supply energy for digging. The adult hornet eats nectar and fruits and scavenges for insects and animal proteins to feed to its young. Because they are scavengers, the hornets may also serve as a transmitter of disease following consumption of infected plants. The hornets are a primary pest to honey bees, attacking bee colonies to obtain honey and animal proteins. The sting of an Oriental hornet can be quite painful to humans and some humans are allergic to stings.


Taxonomy and phylogeny

The Oriental hornet (''V. orientalis'') belongs to the family Vespidae, which consists of
wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...
, hornets, and yellowjackets. It is a member of the genus ''
Vespa Vespa () is an Italian luxury brand of scooters and mopeds manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian. The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of Pontedera, Italy t ...
'', which constitutes true hornets. ''V. orientalis'' has unique adaptations to arid climates, which has made it difficult to assess its phylogenetic relationship to other species of the genus ''Vespa'', based on morphological data alone. Thus, only recently has the use of molecular phylogenetics given evidence that ''V. orientalis'' is most closely related to '' Vespa affinis'' and '' Vespa mocsaryana''. While a history exists of recognizing subspecies within many of the hornets, including ''V. orientalis'', the most recent taxonomic revision of the genus treats all subspecific names in the genus ''Vespa'' as synonyms, effectively relegating them to no more than informal names for regional color forms.A.H. Smith-Pardo, J.M. Carpenter, L. Kimsey (2020) The diversity of hornets in the genus ''Vespa'' (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Vespinae), their importance and interceptions in the United States. Insect Systematics and Diversity 4(3) https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixaa006


Description and identification

The adult hornet has two pairs of wings and a body measuring between long. Drones and workers are smaller in size than the
queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
. ''V. orientalis'' is a reddish-brown color and has distinctive thick yellow bands on the abdomen and yellow patches on the head between the eyes. It has very strong jaws and will bite if provoked. Females (workers and the queen) have an ovipositor, which is a specialized organ shaped like a tube that is used for laying eggs. The ovipositor extends from the end of the abdomen and is also used as a stinger. Males (drones) can be distinguished from workers by the number of segments on their antenna. Drones have 13 segments, while workers only have 12. The Oriental hornet looks similar to the
European hornet The European hornet (''Vespa crabro'') is the largest eusocial wasp native to Europe. It is also the only true hornet (genus ''Vespa'') found in North America, having been introduced to the United States and Canada from Europe as early as 1840. ...
(''V. crabro'') and should not be confused with the Asian giant hornet (''V. mandarinia'') of
East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea ...
.


Distribution

Oriental hornets can be found in
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...
,
southwestern Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes ...
from
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...
and
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
to
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
and Nepal, throughout the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
, in Northeast Africa, in some Afrotropical countries such as
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
and
Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...
, and in parts of
Southern Europe Southern Europe is the southern region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Alb ...
:
Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...
, Bosnia,
Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = ...
,
North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...
,
Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and share ...
,
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
,
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
,
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...
,
Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
,
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
and the southern half of peninsular
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. Oriental hornets have been introduced by humans into additional locations, including
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...
,
Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...
,
Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
, and
Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwes ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
, as well as the occasional introduction via fruit into
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
and the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
. The Oriental hornet is the only member of the genus ''Vespa'' that can be found in desert climates such as those in North Africa, the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
, and parts of southwestern Asia.


Nests

The Oriental hornet typically lives in nests that it digs underground. A nest contains multiple combs in which the
colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...
lives. While nests are most commonly found under ground, some paper nests are constructed in protective hollows such as inside hollow trees, in shipping containers, parked vehicles, and aircraft. To construct the paper nests, the workers strip the bark from twigs, tree branches, and shrubs to collect fiber.


Colonies

Oriental hornets live in seasonal colonies that are formed every year in the spring by a single
queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
that mated during the previous fall. During the fall, the queen of an established colony lays eggs which will develop into new queens and drones. After mating, the drones die off, while the newly fertilized queens seek hideouts in which to hibernate for the winter. The newly founded colony grows throughout the spring and summer until the population and activity of the colony peaks in the late summer and early fall. The peak size of the colony is several thousand individuals and a colony typically contains three to six combs, each containing 600-900 individual cells.


Behavior

''V. orientalis'' is a type of social wasp. Individuals live collectively in colonies with one queen and thousands of workers. Social wasps are unusual in their practice of altruism in which nonreproductive individuals work for the benefit of the colony. This occurs because all individuals in a colony are closely related.


Social structure

Within a colony, the caste system is dominated by the queen that is the only reproductive female in the colony. Subordinate to the queen are the workers (daughters) and drones (sons). Like the queen, drones solely serve reproductive roles. The workers are responsible for the rest of the labor. Workers specialize in the performance of different tasks. Workers are responsible for foraging for food, providing shelter, defending the colony, and caring for the colony's brood, which consist of the queen's offspring.


Communication

Oriental hornets communicate through sound vibrations. The three main types of vibrations used to communicate are taps to the queen, awakening taps, and larval hunger signals. When workers tap while facing the queen, three effects are noted: the queen starts to search the combs for vacant cells in which to lay her eggs in, the workers go back to performing their typical duties, and hunger signals by larvae cease immediately and are not resumed for at least 30 minutes. The main purpose of these taps seem to be to encourage the queen to lay more eggs. Awakening taps by workers cause a general intensification of activities in the colony. The effects are minimal during the day. At night, however, the vibrations wake the whole colony, which causes the larvae commence their hunger signals and the workers to go forage for food to feed the larvae. Larval hunger signals produce no detectable changes in larval activity during the daytime. The workers, however, pay more attention and give more food to the cells that are in the vicinity of where the vibrations originated. At night, the larvae emulate each other's hunger signals and awake the whole nest.


Kin selection and altruism

''V. orientalis'' hornets live in colonies in which the workers are all daughters of the queen, so the workers are all sisters. Social wasps are haplodiploid, which means that males are all haploid and develop from unfertilized eggs, while females are diploid and develop from eggs fertilized by drones. Queens commonly mate with only one drone. Each drone has only one set of chromosomes to pass on to its offspring. Thus, sister workers that share paternity are unusually closely related to each other. Each received 100% its father's genes and 50% of its mother's genes, so each is on average 75% related to its sisters and only 50% related to the queen. Thus, a worker is benefited by looking after the queen and her colony to best ensure the survival of its genes. An individual acting in the interests of others and not just itself it is known as altruism.


Interactions with other species


Diet

Oriental hornets capture other insects such as grasshoppers, flies, honey bees, and
vespid The Vespidae are a large (nearly 5000 species), diverse, cosmopolitan family of wasps, including nearly all the known eusocial wasps (such as ''Polistes fuscatus'', ''Vespa orientalis'', and ''Vespula germanica'') and many solitary wasps. Each ...
s with which they feed the colony's brood. They will also collect other animal proteins for their young such as pieces of fresh or spoiled meat and fish. The adults eat carbohydrates such as nectar, honeydew, and fruits.


Conflict with bees

The best place for hornets to find a combination of animal proteins (bees or larvae) and carbohydrates (honey) are bee hives. Oriental hornets have been known to cause serious damage to bee colonies. They are the primary pest that attacks honey bee colonies in many countries. In defense, Japanese honey bees have been shown to kill predatory hornets by surrounding them by forming a tight ball in which the temperature rises to lethal levels.
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...
honey bees (''
Apis mellifera cypria ''Apis mellifera cypria'' (Cyprus honey bee) is a subspecies of the Western honey bee. Its' habitat is the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Behaviour The A. m. cypria has been reported to be a less swarmy bee when compared to other European hon ...
'') have developed a slightly different method for killing their major predator. They form a tight, smothering ball around the attacking hornet and kill it by asphyxiation.


Sting


Antibacterial effect of venom

The venom of ''V. orientalis'' was tested on Gram-positive bacteria, ''Staphylococcus aureus'' and ''Bacillus subtilis'', and Gram-negative bacteria, ''Escherichia coli'' and ''Klebsiella pneumoniae''. Venom extract was shown to be effective in inhibiting the growth of Gram-positive bacteria. The venom is therefore regarded as a potential therapeutic agent.


Physiology


Solar energy harvesting

Unlike most wasps which are most active during the early morning, ''V. orientalis'' is unique in showing a peak of activity during the middle of the day. Oriental hornets dig their nests underground by picking up soil in their mandibles, flying a short distance, dropping the soil, and returning to the nest to continue digging. The hornet's digging is correlated with insolation (solar energy). The more insolation, the more active the hornet. This daytime digging behavior of ''V. orientalis'' may be possible because of the ability of its cuticle to harvest solar energy.


Cuticle

The cuticle of the Oriental hornet contains yellow pigment that protects the cuticle from harmful
UV radiation Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30  PHz) to 400 nm (750  THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiatio ...
from the sun. The brown segments of the hornet's body contain
melanin Melanin (; from el, μέλας, melas, black, dark) is a broad term for a group of natural pigments found in most organisms. Eumelanin is produced through a multistage chemical process known as melanogenesis, where the oxidation of the amino ...
, which serves a similar purpose. The brown cuticle is composed of about 30 layers, the thickness of which increases from interior to exterior. The brown melanin pigment is found in these layers. The yellow cuticle is composed of 15 layers that contain yellow pigment. The yellow stripe contains xanthopterin in barrel-shaped granules.


Electric potential

Enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products ...
activity in the layer of yellow xanthopterin granules was demonstrated to be higher in hornets kept in dark environments and lower in those exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light. Measuring the electric voltage between the hypocuticle and the exocuticle of the yellow stripe shows a negative
electric potential The electric potential (also called the ''electric field potential'', potential drop, the electrostatic potential) is defined as the amount of work energy needed to move a unit of electric charge from a reference point to the specific point in ...
at the hypocuticle with respect to the positive exocuticle. If the yellow stripe is exposed to light, the potential difference between light and dark conditions increases. In dark conditions, the stripe decreases in electric potential.
Pterins Pterin is a heterocyclic compound composed of a pteridine ring system, with a "keto group" (a lactam) and an amino group on positions 4 and 2 respectively. It is structurally related to the parent bicyclic heterocycle called pteridine. Pterins ...
have a role in
photoreception A photoreceptor cell is a specialized type of neuroepithelial cell found in the retina that is capable of visual phototransduction. The great biological importance of photoreceptors is that they convert light (visible electromagnetic radiat ...
and phototransduction of near-UV light to blue light and pterins may play a role in
photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored in ...
. Some of the same researchers speculate that this is the energy for the heat organ (see #Thermoregulatory organ below).


Thermoregulatory organ

There is a thermoregulatory organ in the thorax of ''V. orientalis''. It maintains at higher than the rest of the body, and above ambient. (Specifically it is located in the dorsal part of the thorax, inward from the meso- scutal plate of the prothorax. This organ is near the median notal
suture Suture, literally meaning "seam", may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Suture'' (album), a 2000 album by American Industrial rock band Chemlab * ''Suture'' (film), a 1993 film directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel * Suture (ban ...
. It is in diameter and butterfly-shaped. The uppermost, hindmost side abuts the base of the forewings.) The authors speculate that this heat generation is powered by the #Electric potential (above) that some of the same authors have previously discovered and investigated.


Research and experiments


Israeli Space Agency

The Israeli Space Agency Investigation About Hornets (
ISAIAH Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...
) was a project from Tel-Aviv University initiated in 1984 to explore the effects of near-zero gravity on oriental hornets, their development, and their nest-building instincts. The experiments were funded by the Israel Space Agency with the goal of discovering ways to prevent astronauts from suffering headaches, nausea, and vomiting during the missions. The sample of 230 Oriental hornets, flight hardware, and measuring instruments were all packed onto the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'', mission STS-47, in 1992. During the launch, 202 hornets died as a result of a malfunction in the water system that caused an abnormal increase in
humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity dep ...
. The surviving hornets lost their sense of direction, and unlike the control unit hornets, were unable to climb on the walls or stay in clusters. Instead, they stayed motionless and apart from each other. Roughly 3 to 4 days after returning to earth, the hornets started climbing on the walls again and building a nest. The surviving hornets lived for an average of 23 days, compared to an average survival of 43 days for the control group hornets.


References


External links


Oriental hornet images
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1427593 Vespidae Insects described in 1771 Hymenoptera of Africa Hymenoptera of Europe Hymenoptera of Asia Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus