European hornet
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Adult European hornets can be seen from spring through autumn.
THE REAL WORLD
The real European hornet
- Scientific name
- Vespa crabro
- Japanese name
- モンスズメバチ
- Group
- Insects
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Hymenoptera
- Family
- Vespidae
- Genus
- Vespa
In Japan this hornet lives from Hokkaido to Kyushu. It gathers at tree sap.
Compared with the Asian giant hornet, the lines in the pattern on its abdomen are fewer and wavy.
It hangs its round nest in places such as tree hollows and the space above house ceilings.
Basic data
- Size
- Body length: males about 27 mm, 21–28 mm, females about 29 mm
- Range
- Hokkaido to Kyushu
- Conservation status in Japan
- Data Deficient (DD)Assessed as Vespa crabro flavofasciataMinistry of the Environment of Japan, Red List 2020
Where the European hornet has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- モンスズメバチ
- 简体中文
- 黄边胡蜂
- 繁體中文
- 費邊胡蜂
- 한국어
- 말벌
- Español
- Avispón europeo
- Français
- Frelon européen
- Deutsch
- Hornisse
- Português (Brasil)
- Vespão europeu
- Italiano
- Calabrone
- العربية
- سرمان اوروبي
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Tawon eropa
- Русский
- Шершень обыкновенный
- Türkçe
- Avrupa Eşekarısı
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- まちだエコライフ推進公社 — まちだのいきものたち モンスズメバチChecked: 2026-11-04
- 守山市 — 美崎公園とその周辺の自然（ハチのなかま）Checked: 2026-11-03
- Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Red List 2020Checked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
The conservation status in Japan is the category in the Red Lists of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, which assess the risk of extinction for wild animals in Japan.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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