I wish to correct the previous post which was based on inadequate information. About Vespa velutina:
> Vespa velutina can build larger nests containing more than 10,000 cells (in average ca. 6000 adults produced), occupied by more than one thousand workers at time and produce in average 350 gynes and 900 males. — Monceau 2015
> Mature colony Size (number of cells) in Vespa varies remarkably among the species. I have proposed that the colony Size of hornets in Japan be classified into the following three types on the basis of the final number of cells typically observed (Matsuura 1984): (1) small-scale nesting type: 1,000 or fewer cells with 3-4 combs (V. tropica, V. analis); (2) intermediate-scale nesting type: 2,000-4,000 cells with 4-12 combs (V. crabro, V. dybowskii, V. mandarinia, V. simillima simillima, V. affinis); (3) large-scale nesting type: 4,000-10,000 cells with 6-12 combs (V. simillima xanthoptera). — Matsuura 1991
An unrelated species:
> A colony of A. vicina nesting in an abandoned shack near Ribeirão Preto in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, is by far the largest colony of social wasps ever recorded. When collected by D. Simões, R. Zucchi, and N. Gobbi, it contained an estimated 1.3 million adults, including 108,000 queens. The total comb area was estimated at 33 square meters (D. Simões, unpubl.)
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