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Flying insects

Hornets

Characteristic:

Hornets are amongst the most popular vespids of our regions. It is recognizable because of its big size and of the reddish color of the front part of its body; its eyes are very big and with a particular "c” shape; abdominal peduncle is short, few red spots adorn the head while the rest of the body is black, yellow and red. Females may reach 5 cm in length, males and workers measure 2-2,5 cm. Fecundate females spend winter in conditions of slow-down metabolism, inside trunks or in the ground, producing glycerol, which works as an antifreeze.
As other vespids, hornets are quite aggressive; nevertheless they do not attack if not disturbed. Their sting, unlike that of bees, is not notched, and rarely remains inside the wound, but the sting is very painful and often causes a noticeable swelling: a sting in the throat  may cause choking. Unlike bees, hornets’ stings do not have vertebrates as a target: bees are meant to defend the nectar collected  in the beehive from animals that may intend to food on it, therefore they leave in the skin of the animal the glands that keeps on releasing poison (therefore dying); hornets, on the contrary, use their sting on more difficult preys, that are in any case insects. For this reason, the quantity of injected poison is inferior to that released from the bee.

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