Distribution: Russia: Kamchatka, Amur basin, Primorye, Sakhalin, Southern Kuriles; Korea, NE China, Japan (Kurzenko, 1995). Additional information on the site of Prof. J.Kojima.

Localities from collections of SZMN, ZIN and literature: Russia: Amur Province: Zeya Nature Reserve, Blagoveshchensk, Nature Reserve Khinganskii (Kurzenko, 1992); Jewish Province: between Obluch'e and Khingansk, Bastak Nature Reserve; Khabarovsk Province: river Kopi in 52 verst from the mouth (ZIN collection), river Botchi (ZIN collection), Khabarovsk vic., Korfovskii, Komsomolsk-na-Amure, Kiselevka, Arkhangelskoe (Amur river mouth); Primorskii Krai: river Odarka (8 km NE from Spassk, ZIN collection), Chernigovka (ZIN collection), 20 km N from Chernyshevka, Yakovlevka (ZIN collection), Nature Reserve Ussuriiskii, 25 km NNE from Mnogoudobnoe, Vladivostok, including Sedanka and Okeanskaya (ZIN collection), as well as Ulisses-Bay and Diomid Bay (Birula, 1924 [1925]), Gusevskii Mine (7 km NE from Zanadvorovka), Nature Reserve Kedrovaya Pad', river Mongugai (Birula, 1924 [1925]); Sakhalin: without locality (Suprunenko, ZIN collection), Horo (Dudino), Novoaleksandrovsk, 20 km NW from Aniwa, Dolinsk and suburbs, Sokol, 10 km E from Boshnyakovo, 5 km N from Tymmovskii (Kurzenko, 2004), 12 km NW from Aniwa; Southern Kuriles: Kunashir (Kuwayama, 1967). China: Yimianpo (ZIN collection).

Note: the species was recorded also from Kamchatka and Khabarovsk Province (Kurzenko, 1995).

Taxa described from Asian Russia and adjacent territories:
Vespa simillima Smith, 1868, Ent. Mon. Mag. 4: 280 - "Japan ... Hakodadi".
Vespa mongolica André, 1884, Ann. Soc. Ent. France (6) 4, Bull.: lix - "Wladivostock, sur l’Amour, dans la Sibérie orientale".

References
André, E. 1884. [No title]. - Ann. Soc. Ent. France, Bull. 6 (4): lix-lxii.
Birula, A. 1924 [1925]. Ueber die russischen Wespen und ihre geographische Verbreitung. - Arch. Naturgesch. (Abt. A) 90 (12): 88-102.
Dubatolov, V.V. 2011. Social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae: Polistinae, Vespinae) of the Bastak Nature Reserve (Jewish Autonomous Province, Amur basin). - Amurian Zoological Journal 3 (1).
Dubatolov, V.V., Dolgikh A.M. 2009. Social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae: Polistinae, Vespinae) of the Bolshekhekhtsyrskii nature reserve (the Khabarovsk suburbs), with notes on their distribution in the Lower Amur. - Amurian zoological journal 1 (1): 76-82.
Kurzenko, N.V. 1992. [Fam. Vespidae]. In: [Insects of the Nature Reserve Khinganskii]. Part 2. Dal'nauka, Vladivostok: 251-254. (In Russian).
Kurzenko, N.V. 1995. [Fam. Vespidae]. In: [A key to insects from the Far East of Russia]. Vol. 4. Neuropteroidea, Mecoptera, Hymenoptera. Part 1. - St-Petersburg: 264-324. (In Russian).
Kurzenko, N.V. 2004. [Vespid and Sapygid wasps fauna (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Sapygidae) of Sakhalin Island]. In: [Flora and fauna of Sakhalin Island (Materials of International Sakhalin Island Project)]. Part 1. Dal'nauka, Vladivostok: 193-208. (In Russian).
Kuwayama, S. 1967. Insect fauna of the Southern Kurile Islands. Sapporo: 1-225 p., 1-4 pl., map.
Malikova, E.I., Kirillova, K., Streltzov, A.N. 2006. [Data on social wasps (Vespidae) and bees (Apidae) from Bastak Nature Reserve]. - Priroda zapovednika “Bastak” [Nature of Bastak Nature Reserve]. Blagoveshchensk 3: 118-120. (In Russian).
Malikova, E.I., Redko, Yu.S., Streltzov, A.N. 2007. [New data on social wasps (Vespidae) and bees (Apidae) from Bastak Nature Reserve]. - Priroda zapovednika “Bastak” [Nature of Bastak Nature Reserve]. Blagoveshchensk 4: P. 55-57. (In Russian).
Smith, F. 1868. Description of an undescribed species of wasp and its nest, received from Hakodadi, in Japan. - Ent. Month. Mag. 4: 279-280.
Streltzov, A.N., Kogdina, Yu.A. 2005. [First data on social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) from Bastak Nature Reserve]. - Priroda zapovednika “Bastak” [Nature of Bastak Nature Reserve]. Blagoveshchensk 2: 45-46.