Could it be His Majesty

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:31 pm

Dunno, but this sure looked like one big Yellowjacket, just a tad over an inch in actual size. On an oak leaf by the way.

Canon G7
Manual/macro mode, IS = On
"My Colors," neutral AWB
1/125 sec. @ f/3.5 ISO 100
Onboard flash @ 1/3, second curtain
Midday, in shade, sunny, at work

Planapo · Post by **Planapo** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:09 am

Very nice pics, Ken! But I´d prefer His majesty, the drone, if you don´t mind!

Because, from your photos I can clearly see that you´ve captured a male of the European hornet (Vespa crabro).
Typically the males can be found at this time of the year when the Vespa societies disintegrate.

Cheers,
Betty.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 2:17 am

Betty wrote:

Very nice pics, Ken! But I´d prefer His majesty, the drone, if you don´t mind!

Done!

Now, how do we know that this is a male and do they often get or are they always this big?

Planapo · Post by **Planapo** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 4:26 am

Now, how do we know that this is a male and do they often get or are they always this big? Very Happy

Ken,

the most prominent features that distinguish males from females (i. e. from queens and workers) and that can be best seen on your first photo are:
- the antennae, which are longer, typically bent outwardly and consisting of 13 segments in the male, versus 12 in the female sex.
- the number of visible tergites (dorsal plates) of the last body section (i. e. the metasoma or "abdomen"): There are seven visible in the male, versus six in the female.

There are other features not as prominent, e. g. a more slender head in the male and the fact that queens should, on average, be even bigger than males. But consider that size can vary: The size of the metasoma depends on the degree of crop filling or ovarian activity in the females, and the overall size of an adult specimen will vary mainly with how well it was fed during its larval period.

--Betty

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:37 pm

Thanks Betty, I will try to keep that in mind. I did take note of the attributes between the two sexes that you mentioned, thanks again

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 12:46 pm

I`ll second European Hornet - Vespa crabro. I tell you once you see them, you never forget how big they are. First reported in New York state in 1840. They are not supposed to be as aggressive as our native gray faced hornets.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 4:44 pm

Doug wrote:

I`ll second European Hornet - Vespa crabro. I tell you once you see them, you never forget how big they are. First reported in New York state in 1840. They are not supposed to be as aggressive as our native gray faced hornets.

Well...I am sure glad to know that, because I got really close there Doug!

Erland R.N. · Post by **Erland R.N.** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:34 pm

I like the two last pictures most.

Regarding males and the queen, I have a link to a thread showing some behaviour inside the nest, and also the size difference between the queen and the workers (a direct link to page 5 in a longer thread in danish language):
http://www.insekt.info/forum/viewtopic. ... 8&start=60

which I took those pictures myself

I friend of mine did
cheers
Erland

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 3:38 am

Good thing a photo is worth a thousand words because I could not read anything in the link but the photographs were amazing, thanks Erland