Vespa velutina
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The Asian hornet (Vespa velutina), also known as the yellow-legged hornet or Asian predatory wasp, is a species of hornet indigenous to Southeast Asia. It is of concern as an invasive species in some other countries, including most of Europe.
Vespa velutina is significantly smaller than the European hornet. Typically, queens are 30 mm (1.2 in) long, and males about 24 mm (0.94 in). Workers are about 20 mm (0.79 in) long. The species has distinctive yellow tarsi (legs). The thorax is a velvety brown or black with a brown abdomen. Each abdominal segment has a narrow posterior yellow border, except for the fourth segment, which is orange. The head is black and the face yellow. Regional forms vary sufficiently in colour to cause difficulties in classification, and several subspecies have been variously identified and ultimately rejected; while there is a history of recognising subspecies within many of the Vespa species, including V. velutina, 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 colour forms. The colour form causing concern about... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuc Phuong National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 2 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 3 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Picos de Europa National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-Legged Hornet sighting in Mercantour National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 245th most-seen of the 412 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-Legged Hornet in Mercantour National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–February and April–July, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Yellow-Legged Hornet sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Yellow-Legged Hornet sightings, Mercantour National Park ranks 6th at about 10%. The best odds are in Cuc Phuong National Park (Vietnam, about 20%), Taroko National Park (Taiwan, about 20%) and Cévennes National Park (France, about 10%).
Same order: Hymenoptera
The closest relatives of the Yellow-Legged Hornet that you can see in Mercantour National Park (order Hymenoptera, Ants, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies) are Brown-Black Carpenter Ant (about 20%), Manica rubida (about 10%) and Sichel's Bumble Bee (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Yellow-Legged Hornet is recorded against all the insects logged in Mercantour National Park (8 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
