Vespula rufa (Linnaeus, 1758), known as the red wasp, is a social wasp species. We analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome of V. rufa from South Korea, for an ongoing systematic study of the Korean Vespidae. This species is distributed in northern parts of North America, northern and central Europe, and parts of Asia. It can be distinguished from other species of the genus by usually having reddish brown areas on the 1st and 2nd tergites. The mitogenome is 17,663 bp in length, includes 13 protein-coding genes, 24 transfer RNA genes, and two ribosomal RNA genes. The nucleotide composition is 40.5% adenines, 43.00% thymines, 6.1% guanines, and 10.4 % cytosines.

• Seung-Su Euo(Division of Forest Biodiversity, Korea National Arboretum) Corresponding author
• Jeong-Hwan Choi(Division of Forest Biodiversity, Korea National Arboretum)
• Moon-Bo Choi(School of Applied Biosciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kyungpook National University)
• Il-Kwon Kim1(Division of Forest Biodiversity, Korea National Arboretum)
• Chang-Jun Kim(Gardens and Education Division, Korea National Arboretum, Pocheon, Republic of Korea)