About Vespa tropica (Linnaeus, 1758)
Vespa tropica, first described by Linnaeus in 1758, has workers measuring around 24 to 26 millimeters (15⁄16 to 1 inch) in length, while mature queens reach 30 millimeters (1+1⁄4 inches) long. Its head is dark brown or red, and its abdomen is black with a distinct yellow stripe that covers most of the second abdominal segment. There is some regional variation in color and size across the species' range: in Singapore and southeastern Asia, specimens are often completely black and larger in size; in regions such as Hong Kong, the head and flanks of the thorax are normally reddish; a third color form occurs in the Andamans and Nicobars, which has a reddish brown head and thorax, with all dorsal plates on each segment of the gastrum orange except the first. Vespa tropica is distributed across southern Asia, ranging from Afghanistan to the Philippines, and extends south to New Guinea, New Britain and the Torres Strait Islands. It has not been recorded in mainland Australia.
