Yellow Hornet

V. simillima colonies are all founded by one single foundress, the same with all other species in their genus. The queen performs all tasks, including egg laying, foraging, and nest building, until workers begin to hatch. This can sometimes lead to nests dying out early in the nesting period, if the queen is killed while foraging before workers can hatch. As the number of workers grows, the division of labor gradually shifts with the queen ultimately only performing egg laying and larval trophallaxis. The average time from egg to adult for V. simillima is 30.8 days, and the average length of survival for adult workers is 12.9 days. Adult mortality rate increases constantly after the start of foraging activities outside the nest. V. simillima are solitary predators, hunting and foraging alone. Food gathered by workers is handed over at the nest, where other workers distribute it among larvae and other nest mates. Nest material is immediately treated and applied to the nest directly by the gathering worker, not passed to a different worker.