EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENTOMOLOGY

Eur. J. Entomol. 123: 217-232, 2026 | DOI: 10.14411/eje.2026.022

Worldwide distribution and invasion status of Vespa velutina (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), the yellow-legged hornet, in 2025Original article

Sandra V. ROJAS-NOSSA ORCID...¹, Lewis J. BARTLETT ORCID...², Éva KOLICS ORCID...³, Maria Del Mar LEZA ORCID...⁴, Anabela NAVE ORCID...^{5, 6}, Michelina PUSCEDDU ORCID...^{7, 8}, Carolin REIN ORCID...⁹, Jairo ROBLA ORCID...¹⁰, Quentin ROME ORCID...¹¹, M. Lukas SEEHAUSEN ORCID...¹², Dušan SENKO ORCID...¹³, Kevin S. SNAIR¹⁴, Benjamin A. TAYLOR ORCID...^{15, 16}, Takatoshi UENO ORCID...¹⁷, Jan WALTER ORCID...^{18, 19}, Alexander WEIGAND ORCID...²⁰, Gard W. OTIS ORCID...^{21, 22, *}

¹ Group of Environmental Biology, Department of Ecology and Animal Biology, University of Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310-Vigo (Pontevedra), Spain; e-mail: srojas@uvigo.es

² Department of Entomology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases, Odum School of Ecology; University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA; e-mail: Lewis.Bartlett@uga.edu

³ Festetics Bioinnovation Group, Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, H-8360 Keszthely, Hungary; e-mail: kolicseva@gmail.com

⁴ Department of Biology (Zoology), University of the Balearic Islands, Cra. Valldemossa km 7.5, 07122 Palma, Spain; e-mail: mar.leza@uib.es

⁵ Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, I.P., Av. da República, Quinta do Marquês, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal; e-mail: anabela.nave@iniav.pt

⁶ Centre for the Research and Technology of Agroenvironmental and Biological Sciences, CITAB, Inov4Agro, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, UTAD, Quinta de Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal

⁷ Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale Italia 39A, 07100 Sassari, Italy; email: mpusceddu@uniss.it

⁸ National Biodiversity Future Center, Piazza marina 61, 90133, Palermo, Italy

⁹ State Institute of Bee Research, University of Hohenheim, Erna-Hruschka-Weg 6, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany; e-mail: carolin.rein@uni-hohenheim.de

¹⁰ Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC), Calle América Vespucio, 41092, Sevilla, Spain; e-mail: jairo.robla@ebd.csic.es

¹¹ PatriNat, Office français de la biodiversité, Muséum nationale d'Histoire naturelle, Entomologie, CP50, 45 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France; e-mail: quentin.rome@mnhn.fr

¹² CABI, Risk Analysis & Invasion Ecology, Rue des Grillons 1, 2800 Delémont, Switzerland; e-mail: l.seehausen@cabi.org

¹³ Department of Evolution and Systematics, Plant Science and Biodiversity Centre, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, Bratislava 845 23, Slovakia; e-mail: dusan.senko@savba.sk

¹⁴ 644 Haley Road, Curreyville, New Brunswick E4H 1X3, Canada; e-mail: kevin@creativeimagery.ca

¹⁵ Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK; e-mail: benjamin.taylor.16@ucl.ac.uk

¹⁶ Department of Entomology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA

¹⁷ Institute of Biological Control, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-Ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan; e-mail: ueno@grt.kyushu-u.ac.jp

¹⁸ Department of Zoology, West Bohemian Museum in Pilsen, Kopeckého sady 2, 301 00 Plzeň, Czech Republic; e-mail: jan.walter1@seznam.cz

¹⁹ Department of Biology, Geosciences and Environmental Education, Faculty of Education, University of West Bohemia, 301 00 Plzeň, Czech Republic

²⁰ National Museum of Natural History Luxembourg, 25 Rue Münster, 2160 Luxembourg, Luxembourg; e-mail: Alexander.Weigand@mnhn.lu

²¹ School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1; e-mail: gotis@uoguelph.ca

²² Institute of Bee Health, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern and Agroscope, Schwarzenburgstrasse161, CH-3097 Bern, Switzerland

The yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina var. nigrithorax, is an invasive generalist predator that preys heavily on honeybees and other pollinators. Native to eastern China, northern Vietnam, and foothills of the Himalaya, it has invaded and now inhabits most of South Korea and western Europe. Here we summarize discoveries of V. velutina documented for the first time during 2025 in New Zealand (the first confirmed records from the southern hemisphere), Algeria (the first records from Africa), Northern Ireland, Denmark, and several European islands (Sardinia, the Azores, and the Isles of Scilly). We also review recent changes in the distribution of V. velutina elsewhere in Europe and North America. These range expansions highlight the high reproductive rate of the species; the extensive dispersal of young queens, both naturally and via shipments of goods by sea and over land; the ability to establish new populations despite low genetic variability; and the potential of V. velutina to harm pollinators and pollination systems.

Keywords: Biological invasion, invasive species, new occurrences, pollinators, predator, southern hemisphere

Received: March 20, 2026; Revised: July 29, 2026; Accepted: July 29, 2026; Published online: August 18, 2026  Show citation