Query : hornets attracted to light but not wasps

[Guy Van de Poel]

Hello all,

I wouldn't know about UV lights, but I will add some observations made this
fall (24-25 Sep), in Germany, Heidelberg vicinity (south-west). We had a
last couple of warm sunny days then, and I was trying to make pictures of
Vanessa atalanta and Polygonia c-album, which were feeding on fallen and
rotting pears.
There was a lot of activity, also lots of flies, honeybees, wasps
(Paravespula germanica) and last but not least: hornets (Vespa crabro). I
even noticed and caught some males of the last species, and seeing these
should normally have meant that the workers would have their 'end of season
holiday', since these and the fertile females (do you also call them
'queens' in English ?) should have been the last brood in the nest.
However, they were still hunting, and actively. They would 'stumble' upon
everything they saw, fall down in the grass, kill the prey with a sting,
chomp it to the right size, and then carry it away to the nest.
I saw a honeybee attacked, beheaded, and carried away, but also flies, ...
What interested me the most was that they also tried to hunt the atalantas
and c-albums, but these always evaded them without flying too far away, and
the hornets didn't seem too motivated to get them, as they gave up the
'dogfight' pretty soon. So I was surprised to find at least two cut-off sets
of atalanta wings the second day, proof of some successes of the hornets. I
also stayed a little bit later, and where all other insects seemed to have
difficulty flying (the c-albums by that time had gone off to sleep) caused
by the sun nearing the horizon, the hornets kept on flying and had success
after success. So they must at least have a much better thermoregulation
than their preys. I also saw some wings of Noctua pronuba, which is an
indication they hunt at the same place at night, and are even capable of
killing species adapted to those temperatures, and to the darkness. I also
will go back there next year and find what actually flies there, this was in
more than one respect an interesting observation.

I would like to add my best wishes to everybody on the list.
Especially since I am a Belgian living in Germany, and though I like it
here, it's still not home, I appreciate all you other people sharing data
and thoughts. It makes up a lot for not being at home. Merry christmas,
happy new year, or in my own language: Zalig kerstfeest en een gelukkig
nieuwjaar!

Guy.

Guy Van de Poel
Guy_VdP at t-online.de

Royal Entomological Society of Antwerp
http://www.freeyellow.com/members/fransjanssens/index.html

-----Original Message-----
From: Prichard,AW,NAR7 PRICHAA2 M <tony.aw.prichard at bt.com>
To: Leps-L (E-mail) <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Date: dinsdag 22 december 1998 10:13
Subject: Query : hornets attracted to light but not wasps


>Hi
>
>My experience from moth trapping is that many more hornets turn up at the
UV
>lights than ordinary wasps. This year has been noticeably bad (good?) for
>hornets in that sometimes we have had over 50 hornets in each of several
>traps at sites. Whereas wasps although they have been very common during
the
>day only seem to turn up at light very occasionally in ones or twos.
>
>I presume that hornets are still active and flying around at night whereas
>wasps aren't as a rule. Does anyone have any idea why there is a difference
>in the behaviour between the two? What are they getting up to at this time
>of the day - looking for food?
>
>Regards
>
>Tony Prichard
>Suffolk, UK
>