--- title: "European Hornet (Vespa crabro) | AnimalTracks.wiki" description: "Central Europe's biggest vespine wasp, warmed by its own flight muscles." image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/european-hornet-1.webp" published: "2026-10-11" updated: "2026-10-11" --- # European Hornet (*Vespa crabro*) > **Status**: Checked against 8 sources, listed under Sources below. > **Tagline**: Central Europe's biggest vespine wasp, warmed by its own flight muscles. > **Soundtrack Vibe**: 80s Retrowave & Synthwave // Chromatics, "Night Drive" > **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/6d5jMLcYaEoZestm7ZMGj6) > **Vibe Match**: After-dark synths, for a hornet that Penn State calls the only nocturnal wasp in Pennsylvania, sometimes drawn to porch lights at night. ## Biological Superpowers & Stats - **Taxonomy**: *Vespa crabro* - **Danger Level**: Medium - **Conservation Status**: Not Evaluated ([IUCN Red List](https://www.iucnredlist.org/)) - **Superpower**: Makes its own body heat, arriving home with a thorax averaging 30 to 40 °C - **Habitat**: Mostly woodland, parkland and gardens; native to Europe and Asia, introduced to eastern North America - **Diet**: Insects such as grasshoppers, flies and yellowjackets, plus nectar and sap - **Tags**: insect, venomous, social-colony, predator, forest, nocturnal ## Natural History & Behavior ## A wasp with its own radiator The European hornet (*Vespa crabro*) is the largest of Central Europe's vespine wasps, the group that holds hornets and yellowjackets. Workers reach up to 25 millimetres, an inch, and queens up to 35. In one field study, hornets leaving the nest averaged 477.5 milligrams, more than five times the weight of the common wasps living in the same area. Hornets also run warm. Hornets make their own body heat, a skill called endothermy, by working the thoracic muscles, the flight muscles in the middle of the body. The hornets in that study arrived back at the nest with a thorax averaging 30 to 40 °C, running roughly 5 to 18 °C above the surrounding air. > **Grip strength** > Clamping the bumps of a rough surface between the claws of opposite legs, a hornet in a lab test withstood a pull almost 25 times its own weight. ## Night shift with a sweet tooth For most of the year hornets are hunters. They take grasshoppers, flies and even yellowjackets, and they sometimes attack honey bees, apparently more often in Europe than in North America. They add sugar to the diet too, especially in autumn, stripping bark off bushes such as lilac to feed on the sap. They also keep odd hours. Penn State's entomologists call the European hornet the only nocturnal wasp in Pennsylvania, and it is sometimes drawn to porch lights at night. ## Big sting, calm temper The sting is about as painful as a honey bee's, says Penn State. The stinger is smooth, and a hornet can sting more than once. Virginia Cooperative Extension says hornets do not seem particularly aggressive unless they are defending the nest. The venom holds crabrolin, a short chain of 13 amino acids that, in lab tests, can act against bacteria and also damage red blood cells. ## A one-summer empire Each spring a queen leaves her winter hiding place and starts a nest, often in a hollow tree, chewing wood into paper. At the mid-September peak most nests hold 200 to 400 workers, and large ones up to 1,000. In a study of 15 hornet nests, the males were the queen's sons and the workers never tried to lay eggs. Then it ends. The workers die in autumn, and only mated queens survive the winter. The species is native to Europe and Asia. It was first detected in North America in the 1840s, and Penn State's 2024 factsheet calls it widespread in the eastern United States. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How big is a European hornet? Penn State gives workers as up to 25 millimetres (an inch) long and queens as slightly larger, up to 35 millimetres. *(Source: [Penn State Extension]())* ### Do European hornets really fly at night? Yes. Penn State's factsheet calls it the one wasp in Pennsylvania that is active at night, and says it sometimes turns up at porch lights after dark. *(Source: [Penn State Extension]())* ### Where did European hornets come from, and where do they live now? They are native to Europe and Asia. Penn State reports they were brought from central Europe to North America and first detected in the 1840s, and its 2024 factsheet calls them well established across the eastern United States. *(Source: [Penn State Extension]())* ## Sources 1. [Kovac & Stabentheiner (2012). Does size matter? Biology Open.]() 2. [Frantsevich & Gorb (2004). Structure and mechanics of the tarsal chain in the hornet, Vespa crabro (Hymenoptera: Vespidae): implications on the attachment mechanism. Arthropod Structure & Development.]() 3. [Foster, Ratnieks & Raybould (2000). Do hornets have zombie workers? Molecular Ecology.]() 4. [Krishnakumari & Nagaraj (1997). Antimicrobial and hemolytic activities of crabrolin, a 13-residue peptide from the venom of the European hornet, Vespa crabro, and its analogs. The Journal of Peptide Research.]() 5. [European Hornet. Penn State Extension.]() 6. [European Hornet. Virginia Cooperative Extension.]() 7. [Hornet (Vespa crabro). Welsh Wildlife Trust.]() 8. [Vespa crabro Linnaeus. Integrated Taxonomic Information System.]() *Published October 11, 2026. 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