Workers are usually about 20–25 mm long; queens are larger.
Fine-art photographic collection
Vespa affinis
A paper-nest predator whose new colonies can begin with lethal battles among rival queens.
About this species
Lesser Banded Hornet
Vespa affinis(Linnaeus, 1764)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Vespa affinis is a widespread Asian social hornet. Colonies build layered paper nests from chewed plant fibres, rear workers and hunt insects to feed developing larvae.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Vespidae · Vespa
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
South and Southeast Asia, extending into parts of East AsiaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
South and Southeast Asia, extending into parts of East Asia
Forest edges, villages, gardens and urban areas; nests may be underground, in trees or on buildings.
Workers forage by day; colonies are annual in seasonal parts of the range.
Adults take nectar and sugary liquids; larvae receive masticated insects and spiders.
Annual eusocial colony with queen, workers and reproductive males and females.
What makes this species remarkable?
Early nests may contain several founding queens, but cooperation can end violently: one study found embryo nests surrounded by dead rival queens before a single dominant female remained.
Workers manufacture the nest itself, scraping fibres from wood, chewing them with saliva and laying the pulp as thin paper around thousands of brood cells.
The hornet is a flexible aerial hunter that can take bees, flies, caterpillars, spiders and even intercept honey-bee drones in flight to supply protein to the brood.