Abstract / Introduction / Summary:
A mature nest of the hornet Vespa analis was analyzed. It was collected in late October, 2023 on Kikai-jima, the Central Ryukyu Islands, Japan. The wasp has been supposed to be an alien for the island, and was identified as a subspecies, V. analis eisa inhabiting neighbouring islands, based on the color pattern and DNA barcoding. The nest contained 31 workers and 7 males; the founding queen was missing. New queens had not yet produced. It was composed of 6 combs and 1083 brood cells, with a total of 483 meconia (dried feces deposited at cell bottoms). From combs 1-3, 29 larvae and 15 pupae of a pyralid moth, Hypsopygia mauritialis, were found. It is assumed that the moth was native to the island, parasitizing native social wasps of the genus Polistes.
