Several workers of Vespa velutina loiter near a nest of the Asian honeybee Apis cerana nest, hovering for long periods and facing outwards in an attempt to catch bees returning to the nest. There can be up to twenty workers attacking a honeybee nest or hive at any one time, although three to six is more usual. The wasps do not attack together, each one attempts to catch single honeybees individually. The Asian honeybee, unlike the European honeybee Apis cerana, display "body-shaking" defensive behaviour; the individual bees swing their bodies from side to side in a simultaneous motion in an attempt to scare predators away; as the attack progresses, more bees emerge to serve as guards in this manner. If the hornet gets too close or actually lands outside the entrance the bees will surround it and kill it not with their stings but by heating it to death, as the highest temperature the bees can tolerate is slightly higher than the hornet's. However, this species seldom gets caught out in this way, unlike Vespa mandarinia and Vespa soror, of which single scouts tend to get too bold in their search for nests to "conquer" and venture too near.
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