soror du Buysson, 1905 Vespa mandarina [sic] soror van der Vecht, 1957 Vespa soror, also known as the southern giant hornet,[1] is a species of hornet present in India, Northern Thailand, Laos, Northern Vietnam, and parts of South China, including Hong Kong, Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan Island.

They are aggressive predators and have been observed to attack the nests of honeybees, wasps, and smaller hornet species.

They exhibit behavior of rubbing their gasters on the hive and nearby vegetation during predation, and this may be a recruitment signal to attract other V. soror workers to attack.

[4] A defensive technique of Apis cerana bees that has been found to be widespread in Vietnam and reported in China, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal is to attach spots of animal faeces of about 2mm diameter around the entrance to hives.

[13][14][15][16][17] In 2022-2023, researchers found four Vespa soror workers in El Campo, northern Spain.