Vespa tropica
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
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 workers of Vespa tropica are about 24–26 millimetres (15⁄16–1 in) in length, while queens grow to 30 millimetres (1+1⁄4 in). The head is dark brown/red; the abdomen is black with a distinct yellow stripe which covers most of the second abdominal segment. However, there is some variation across its range and in Singapore and southeastern Asia, specimens are often completely black and larger in size, while in other regions such as Hong Kong, the head and flanks of the thorax are normally reddish. A third colour form is found in the Andamans and Nicobars, which has a reddish brown head and thorax and all the dorsal plates on each segment of the gastrum are orange except the first.
Vespa tropica is distributed throughout southern Asia from Afghanistan to the Philippines, south to New Guinea, New Britain and the Torres Strait... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Khao Sok National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 2 | Sepilok | 🇲🇾 Malaysia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiruchirappalli | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Bengaluru | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Coimbatore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Denpasar | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 5 | Mysuru | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Thrissur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Dehradun | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 9 | Yogyakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 10 | Pune | 🇮🇳 India |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Banded Hornet sighting in Hong Kong on a given day, based on 21 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 450th most-seen of the 1125 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August to November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Banded Hornet in Hong Kong on a given day, against under 5% in December to July, the lowest months.
Between 4 and 7 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Greater Banded Hornet sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
22nd of 23
Of the 23 cities where we can rate Greater Banded Hornet sightings, Hong Kong ranks 22nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Tiruchirappalli (India, about 20%), Bengaluru (India, about 20%) and Coimbatore (India, about 20%).
Same genus: Vespa
The closest relatives of the Greater Banded Hornet that you can see in Hong Kong (genus Vespa, Hornets) are Yellow-Legged Hornet (about 20%), Black Shield Hornet (about 10%) and Lesser Banded Hornet (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Greater Banded Hornet is recorded against all the insects logged in Hong Kong (21 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
