The typical mainland color form (Japanese:ケブカスズメバチ, Korean: 털보말벌, "hairy wasp") is darker and hairier than the yellow form; it lives in Hokkaido, the Korean Peninsula, Eastern Siberia and China, but is less common in Japan, where the yellow color form predominates.

While there is a history of recognizing subspecies within many hornets, the most recent taxonomic revision treats all subspecific names in the genus Vespa as synonyms, effectively relegating them to no more than informal names for regional color forms.

[1] Due to the large size of the swarm and aggressiveness of the yellow hornet, predation against them is rare.

Along with other insects in Japan and Korea, they are prey to the Asian giant hornet and nests have been known to be deserted after Asian giant hornet attacks, even though they attack in groups of only 10 to 30.

If the assault succeeds, it will usurp the nest to produce its offspring, assisted by the workers of the former owner.