s will sting in self-defense when grabbed or stepped on.
Eyes are deeply indented, shaped like C. Wings are reddish-orange, the petiolate abdomen is brown striped with yellow. The European hornet is larger than common wasp, but smaller than some Asian hornet species. It has hair on the thorax and abdomen, although the European hornet is not so hairy as most bees.
European hornets are often mischaracterized as very aggressive and dangerous, and are greatly feared by some people. Some people believe that "three stings from the European hornet can kill an adult human, and that seven can kill a horse". These are common myths - a sting from a European hornet isn't any more dangerous than any other wasp sting, and European hornets are less aggressive than other wasps. In contrast, multiple Asian giant hornets stings are, in fact, more dangerous.
While impressive due to their size and loud sound, European hornets are in fact much less aggressive than some of their smaller relatives, such as the German wasp and the common wasp. When approached, European hornets can actually be seen to slowly crawl backwards and eventually flee, rather than attack. This can make it hard to remove hornets from indoors, if they happen to come in through an open window or door. While not aggressive when encountered far from the nest, multiple workers will vigorously defend the nest if provoked. Nests can be approached without provocation (by moving slowly and not breathing towards the nest) to about 20 inches. Nests are usually not a problem outside buildings, but because they drip feces, a bad smelling black liquid, nests inside sheds or walls can be a problem.
Unwarranted fear has often led to the destruction of nests, leading to the decline of the species, which is often locally threatened or even endangered. European hornets benefit from legal protection in some countries, notably Germany, where it has been illegal to kill a European hornet or nest since 1 January 1987, with a fine up to 50,000 Euros.
European hornets are attracted to lights at night, but are not attracted to human foods and food wastes. However, they can totally destroy fruits, such as apples, while the fruit is still on the tree. This is quite unlike the bald-faced hornet or other social wasps.
The Japanese Hornet. I have saved this beast for last since it is probably the most frightening of all the Hymenoptera. As its name implies it occurs mainly in Japan which is of course good for us since it is a treacherous and dangerous insect. It is quite large approaching the size of a thumb and by the way its sting, besides feeling like a hot nail driven into you, can also dissolve tissues of your thumb, actually any part of your body-ouch! Well it is gets worse. The sting-venom also contains an alarm pheromone that will incite mass attack from nearby hornets-hopefully not to a human. Unfortunately in many cases it is us as 40 to 70 people a year in Japan die from attack of these critters.
A Japanese Hornet.
As bad as this is for humans it is much worse for the European honeybee, Apis mellifera, the most common honeybee found around the world. These wasps will fly many miles looking for beehives to raid. They can fly as far as 60 miles in a day at 25 miles per hour. A searching hornet may actually follow a foraging bee back to its hive. Once finding the hive it attacks giving off the alarm pheromone attracting other hornet in the vicinity. Ultimately they typically attack in force with a relatively small but very effective army of 30 or more. You wouldn’t think such a small army would be that successful since a beehive can have upwards of 80,000 bees. However, one hornet can kill 40 bees a minute. Unfortunately honeybees possess relatively small stingers that are of minimal use in penetrating the thick exocutile of the invading hornets nor do they defend in mass. The hornets descend on the hive and systematically one by one cut the bees in half. In the interest of efficiency they typically cut off the defending bees heads. After a few hours the hive contains few if any adult bees but