This gland secretes chemicals which are important in the determination and maintenance of the hierarchy of groups of eusocial wasps[1] and are used in the defence of the nests in others.
[2] In the Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) the Van der Vecht's gland is used to scent mark hives of honey bees to attract other members of their colony to cooperatively attack the hive; the only known case of the gland's use to scent mark a food source.
[1] The gland was discovered by, and named in honour of, the Dutch entomologist Jacobus van der Vecht.
[6] It is thought that Van der Vecht's gland was to provide a chemical defence against ant predators in the species which have independent foundresses and nests without any form of protective envelope, the gland producing chemicals which repel ants and which are placed on the petiole connecting the nest to the surface it is suspended from.
It has also been retained in lineages which have swarm foundresses and nests protected by an envelope such as the eusocial Vespinae.