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Hornets have stingers used to kill prey and defend nests. Hornet stings are more painful to humans than typical wasp stings because hornet venom contains a large amount (5%) of acetylcholine. [8] [9] Individual hornets can sting repeatedly.
European hornets have been observed to steal prey from spiders, which can be classified as an example of kleptoparasitism. This behavior was first documented in 2011 against a yellow garden spider, Argiope aurantia. A European hornet flew into the spider’s web and appeared entangled.
The hornets can devastate a colony of honey bees, especially if it is the introduced western honey bee. A single hornet can kill as many as 40 bees per minute due to its large mandibles, which can quickly strike and decapitate prey. [91] The honey bees' stings are ineffective because the hornets are five times their size and heavily armored.
It is the only known predator of the Asian hornet. [16] It spends large amounts of time on the forest floor excavating wasp nests. It is equipped with long toes and claws adapted to raking and digging, and scale-like feathering on its head, thought to be a defence against the stings of its prey. [17]
Vespa tropica, the greater banded hornet, is a tropical species of hornet found in Southern Asia, New Guinea and west Africa, and which has recently been discovered to be an invasive species on the Pacific island of Guam. It is a predator of paper wasps and possesses a potent sting, which can cause extreme pain and swelling.
The yellow-legged hornet looks a lot like several native insects, including the cicada killer wasp, the bald-faced hornet, paper wasps, queen yellowjackets, wood wasps and robber flies.
Many wasp lineages, including those in the families Vespidae, Crabronidae, Sphecidae, and Pompilidae, attack and sting prey items that they use as food for their larvae; while Vespidae usually macerate their prey and feed the resulting bits directly to their brood, most predatory wasps paralyze their prey and lay eggs directly upon the bodies ...
Due to the large size of the swarm and aggressiveness of the yellow hornet, predation against them is rare. Along with other insects in Japan and Korea, they are prey to the Asian giant hornet and nests have been known to be deserted after Asian giant hornet attacks, even though they attack in groups of only 10 to 30.