EUROPEAN HORNET IN THE UNITED STATES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER (HYMENOPTERA: VESPIDAE, VESPA CRABRO L.)
Non-native European hornet, Vespa crabro, is widely distributed in the United States east of the Mississippi River. Occurrences of V. crabro to the west of the Mississippi River are comparatively sparse. The majority of documented specimens from the “Trans-Mississippi” region of the U.S. are primarily from the Ozarks Physiographic Province in Arkansas, Missouri and eastern Oklahoma, with only sporadic reports of solitary specimens from Arizona, California, Kansas, Louisiana, and Wisconsin. This patchy geographic distribution in the southern and southwestern United States suggests that V. crabro may be restricted by the upper lethal thermal limit of the species (44°C), which can approach summertime temperatures in those regions.Abstract
Distribution of European hornet, Vespa crabro L. in the United States. The dashed line demarks the Ozarks Physiographic Province, and the solid line in Arkansas demarks the Ouachita Physiographic Province. The hatched area is the approximate main range east of the Mississippi River.
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