第 0969 號，共 1 402 號

Southern yellowjacket

Vespula squamosa

只是會痛會痛，但不會對你造成嚴重傷害。

螫吃：肉

The southern yellowjacket is a social wasp with black and yellow stripes and an orange queen. It lives in eastern North America and further south into Central America. Its nests are often in yards, parks and by roads, so people meet it often, and its stings are painful.1

分布在

Eastern United States, south to Mexico and Guatemala, and as far south as Central America1

北美洲

首頁

Nests are usually in unnatural or disturbed places such as yards, parks, picnic tables and roadsides, and in wall voids. Some colonies are in pine forests or hardwood forests. Most nests are underground, though some are above ground or in walls. The species is common in urban areas.1

長度

1,3 cm (0,5 in)1

最高速度

大約 23 km/h（14 mph）

飛行, 粗略估計

牠吃什麼？

It is predatory and mainly eats live insects, especially arthropods such as spiders and caterpillars. It also feeds on the flesh of dead prey. Adult workers bring food back to the larvae in the nest.1

Southern yellowjacket 的照片 — Southern yellowjacket。照片：Bob Peterson from North Palm Beach, Florida, Planet Earth!。 CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons.

怎麼認出牠

Black body with yellow striping over the whole body1
Clear wings and a hairless body1
About 1.3 cm long1
The queen is larger than the males and workers and is more orange in colour1
Has two stripes on its scuta1

常被誤認為： Its two stripes on the scuta are shared with V. sulphurea. The queen looks different from the workers and males, so check the colour and size of the wasp you see.1

毒液力量

螫

毒液從螫針出來。

牠的毒液有什麼作用？

Its stings are venomous, and the venom causes pain. Workers can sting several times in one attack.1

牠對人有多危險？

對人的危險: 疼痛可能會非常痛，但幾乎從來不會很嚴重。

The species is considered a pest because its nests are close to people and can be large. Close contact with people commonly leads to multiple, painful stings. Disturbing a nest can result in several stings.1

牠害怕時會做什麼？

Workers release alarm pheromones that signal the rest of the colony to attack whatever threatens the nest. Their stings are typically used in defence of the colony.1

如果牠螫人

把蜜蜂的螫針刮掉，然後冷敷患處。
如果傷者呼吸困難、臉部或喉嚨腫脹，或覺得快要昏倒，這就是過敏急症：打緊急電話，如果傷者有腎上腺素自動注射筆，就使用它。

一定要先打緊急電話（112、000、911）。這是一般急救指引，不是醫療建議。急救基本知識

注意安全

絕對不要碰、抓或捉弄野生動物，就算是很小的動物，就算牠看起來在睡覺或已經死了也一樣。
給牠空間。如果遇到了，保持冷靜，慢慢往後退，讓牠自己離開。
如果被牠螫了：保持冷靜，保持不動，打緊急電話（112、000、911）或趕快去醫院。記住牠的樣子，有照片會很有幫助。

牠不是想來抓你。牠用毒液來捕捉食物或保護自己，而且牠更想躲起來。更多安全知識

在世界上的哪裡？

非洲亞洲歐洲北美洲南美洲澳洲與大洋洲

牠有多大？

牠有多長？

小到可以坐在你的指甲上可以在 16 秒內飛過一整座足球場

Southern yellowjacket 跟「你」比起來有多大？

只是在你的瀏覽器裡做算術。什麼都不會儲存，也不會傳送到任何地方。

牠有多快？

一隻家蠅 大約 7 km/h (4,4 mph)

Southern yellowjacket 大約 23 km/h (14 mph)

一個正在衝刺的人 大約 37 km/h (23 mph)

值得知道

小知識

Most southern yellowjackets are social parasites: they build their nests around the nests of another species.1

About 85% of colonies start when a queen takes over a small nest of the eastern yellowjacket, V. maculifrons, and only about 15% are founded independently.1

Some nests are very large. One of the biggest reported was in a pine tree and the dirt beneath it, and it had over 50 combs in the trunk alone.1

In Florida and other southern coastal areas, some nests survive the winter and last for several years.1

Workers and queens use pheromones to communicate, with alarm signals for attacks and a different pheromone that attracts males to the queen.1

給毒液專家

學名: Vespula squamosa
類群: 蜜蜂、胡蜂和虎頭蜂
家人: Vespidae2
排序: Hymenoptera
各大洲: 北美洲
寶寶: The queen lays eggs that hatch into larvae, which enter the pupal stage after about a month.1
對人的危險: 2 / 5: 疼痛3