Vespa genomes
The northern giant hornet Vespa mandarinia was introduced multiple times to the pacific northwest of North America. These large hornets are predators of hymenopteran pollinators and pose a threat to the native and reared assemblage of bees. We sequenced and assembled the genomes of Vespa mandarinia, Vespa crabro, and Vespula pensylvanica in order to understand the evolution of body size in the Vespa and how it relates with the populations that were introduced to North america.