HYMENOPTERA > APOCRITA | Aculeata > Vespidae > Vespinae

This species, also known as the French Wasp, is another recent colonist having first arrived from western Europe in the early 1980's. It is now widely established across much of southern and central England, and slowly extending its range northwards.

Dolichovespula media averages a little larger than the previously described species with a body length of up to 22mm but, otherwise, both the workers and the males look rather similar. They are quite variable though in respect of their markings with some workers being notably dark with greatly reduced yellow abdominal rings around the rear margins of the tergites. The clypeus is yellow with a thin black line or elongated central spot; the side of the head is largely yellow behind the eyes; the thorax shiny; and the pronotum shoulders have thin yellow borders from behind the head that extend back towards the wing and then downwards, said to resemble the NIKE logo or an inverted 7.

The queens are very hornet-like as can be seen here, and could quite easily be confused because of the dark reddish colouration, except that the front of the abdomen is black, not chestnut as in Vespa crabo. And, equally important, hornets don't have any yellow markings on the thorax.

They may be encountered in a variety of lowland habitats including woodland, parks and gardens where they will look to build their large, football-sized, suspended nests in hedgerows or shrubs, or even under the eaves of outbuildings. As with other social wasps, nests are active in spring through to late summer when new queens and males are produced. After mating, the males will die, as will the old queen and all of the workers. The new queens will disperse and over-winter before emerging the following year, usually in late-spring, and often later than some of the other species.

During the summer and early autumn, the workers can be very aggressive, whereas the males tend to be more docile and will often be found on flowers.