Queen Hornetaur

English name: Queen Hornetaur 

Romaji: Joō Kantarosu

Japanese: 女王 カンタロス

Size: Medium 

The Queen Hornetaur is the female leader of a Hornetaur colony. They are many times larger, and much more powerful. They first appear in 4 star Village Quests in Monster Hunter Z.

Appearance
An average - sized Queen Hornetaur is about 3 metres long, making it much bigger than the regular Hornetaur. It possesses six long legs that protrude from the left and right sides of its body. It also has a giant horn on top of its head, between two pairs of antennae found on the sides of its head. Its shell is very robust and deep green in colour. The outer shell of its abdomen is dark orange, and the softer, inside part is pale grey. Its wingspan is about twice the length of a human, and its wings are golden brown. When enraged, its antennae turn erect, and the soft inside part of their abdomen glow yellow.

Behavior
Queen Hornetaurs are normally found sleeping inside of the nest. However, when the nest is attacked, they will defend it ferociously. It isn't able to use its wings to fly for an extended period of time due to its thick shell, and instead uses its wings for leaping considerable distances. Though not as aggressive as the Vespoid Queen, which it is related to, Queen Hornetaurs are still very dangerous to anything that threatens its nest.

When the Queen Hornetaur of the nest is ready to mate, its abdomen becomes very swollen and becomes twice as thick as its body. It will then mate with every male Hornetaur in the nest to ensure that it will produce a significant amount of offspring. It is ready to produce eggs (which are laid in protected sacs) after 2 weeks, using a thick tube that extends from the inside of its abdomen.

Abilities
As mentioned, Queen Hornetaurs are able to leap vast distances and perform powerful aerial attacks, mainly using its horn. It is also able to emit foul - smelling Sulphuric gas from its sides. Its abdomen also has another opening that is used to fire out golden, sparkling dust that causes hunters to fall asleep.

Attacks
Queen Hornetaur have a variety of jumping attacks. They also have a head - on charge attack on the ground, where they skewer anything in the way with their horn, and a slam attack which causes the quake effect, and can be done multiple times.

Trivia

 * Hunters can actually enter the termite mound - like nest of the queen Hornetaur, which is attached to a certain part of a certain area. The Queen Hornetaur is resting at a specific chamber, and the hunters have to explore the nest in a variety of ways, including climbing (if a part of the nest is attached to a wall of cliff), sliding and even swimming (if part of the nest is underwater).
 * If hunters are hit with an attack that throws them back, they will be blown out of the nest, thus breaking a part of the nest.