Real Tropical Tiger Hornet - Vespa tropica specimen encased in clear lucite material. Safe, authentic and completely unbreakable product put real Hornet right at your fingertips!

Length of the Hornet body is 2.7 cm (1.1 inch).

Size of the lucite block is 5.8x4.0x2.2 cm (2.3x1.6x0.9 inch).

Weight of the keychain is 52 g and 90 g with packing box.

It is a beautiful keychain and is also a very good collectible item for every body.

This is a handmade real animal specimen craft. Each one will be a bit different (specimen size, color and posture) even in the same production batch.
The pictures in the listing are just for reference as we are selling multiple pieces with same pictures.

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Tropical Tiger Hornet - Vespa tropica

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Vespidae
Genus: Vespa
Species: V. tropica

This is a medium-sized to large species. Queens reach 30mm or more, males average 26mm and workers average 24 to 35 mm. There is some geographical variance within this species. Generally, the second abdominal segment carries a large area of bright yellow, while the rest of the abdomen is black.

Vespa tropica is a widely distributed hornet in much of tropical Asia. It is rather secretive and tends to fly close to the cover of foliage. Individuals in Singapore often fly high in trees.

This species is known to attack the nests of Polistines (paper wasps) in order to obtain the larvae to feed their own larvae. It is said to be almost exclusive in choice of prey.

The nest of Vespa tropica is usually underground or in a tree hollow or similar enclosed space. Due to the location, the nest is seldom seen. If excavated, the nest usually appears rhomboid, with an open bottom (as opposed to the completely sealed nests of most aerial hornets). The nest envelope islaminar (comprising of distinct, broad individual layers) and very brittle.

Vespa tropica does not seem to be a defensive species. It is strange how reluctant these insects were to attack. And it must be noted that this species has been responsible for many fatal attacks, due to the location of its nests and its wide distribution.

It must be noted that this species, like Vespa affinis, appears more aggressive in tropical regions than sub-tropical areas.