When I was at the HK Book Fair I picked up a copy of “Potentially Dangerous Bees and Wasps of Hong Kong” by John X Q Lee. It is a fine publication and pitched at exactly the right level for a duffer like me.
It is published by the most excellent Hong Kong Entomological Society.
Since then I have kept an eye out for any of the potentially dangerous chaps and I am happy to report I have seen several of them. Moreover none has yet shown me any aggression whatsoever. They appear far more domesticated than the average US Banking Regulator and arguably with better judgement.
Any road up, here is one I believe to be Vespula flaviceps and a very fine subject it makes too.
Vespula flaviceps
FOOTNOTE: I was wrong again. John Lee tells me this is:
a dwarf carpenter bee (Apidae: Xylocopinae - Ceratina sp.) There are possibly several different species in this genus locally and identification to species isn’t possible without the specimen.
Much indebted, John.
