Northern giant hornet
Vespa mandarinia
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Photo credit: lena_gurdina (licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)
Vespa mandarinia - Northern giant hornet
Description:
Habitat:
Origin and Distribution:
Impacts:
Is it found in Northern Ireland?
How could it get here?
Prevent Spread
Current legislative position (Entered into Force on 7th August 2025): This species must not intentionally be brought into the Union; kept; bred; transported to, from or within the United Kingdom, unless for the transportation to facilities in the context of eradication; placed on the market; used or exchanged; permitted to reproduce, grown or cultivated; or released into the environment.
For further queries, you can contact the Invasive Non Native Species (INNS) Team in the Northern Ireland Environment Agency on 028 9056 9558 or Email: invasivespecies@daera-ni.gov.uk
Vespa mandarinia - Northern giant hornet
Description:
- Yellow/orange head with black eyes and prominent mandibles
- Black/brown thorax
- Black/Brown abdomen with yellow-orange stripes
- Legs are a yellow-orange colour at the end, getting darker closer to the base
- Queens are approximately 50mm in size, while workers and drones are slightly smaller at 35-40mm
- It has two pairs of yellow-ish wings, with a wingspan of around 76mm
- Their body is matt not shiny in appearance
- Stinger approximately 6mm in length
- Produce a loud, low buzz
Habitat:
- Low mountain forests and rural farmland
- Ground-nesting, preferring hidden, low-traffic areas such as abandoned burrows, rotting tree roots/stumps, underground cavities, bases of large trees in forests, and occasionally within man-made structures
Origin and Distribution:
- Native to subtropical and temperate mountainous regions of Asia, including northern India, the Korean peninsula, and Japan
- Found in North America in 2019, this population was declared eradicated in December 2024
Impacts:
- Voracious predator that can wipe out entire beehives in hours, impacting both natural ecosystems, and agriculture and bee-keeping practices
- Very painful sting, multiple consecutive stings could prove lethal to those even without an allergy
- Highly mobile and capable of rapid dispersal if queens successfully survive the winter, proving difficult and expensive to control populations once established
Is it found in Northern Ireland?
- It is not currently present in Northern Ireland
How could it get here?
- Hitch-hiking upon imported goods or vehicles is considered a primary pathway
- Soil, wood products and bark (associated with the plant trade) and suitable man-made products (e.g. ceramic pottery associated with garden trade) all provide suitable harbourages for hibernating queens
Prevent Spread
- Prevention via enforcing the IAS (Enforcement and Permitting) Order (Northern Ireland) ensuring that Vespa mandarinia is not introduced to Northern Ireland
- Reporting any sightings so that Rapid Response can be instigated
- Monitoring pathways of introduction and removing any individuals.
- You can help by reporting any sightings:@ the Centre for Environmental Data & Recording (CEDaR) - Or via the iRecord App.
Current legislative position (Entered into Force on 7th August 2025): This species must not intentionally be brought into the Union; kept; bred; transported to, from or within the United Kingdom, unless for the transportation to facilities in the context of eradication; placed on the market; used or exchanged; permitted to reproduce, grown or cultivated; or released into the environment.
For further queries, you can contact the Invasive Non Native Species (INNS) Team in the Northern Ireland Environment Agency on 028 9056 9558 or Email: invasivespecies@daera-ni.gov.uk