Fascinating footage shows a large wasp pushing back hundreds of smaller ones after finding itself surrounded by them on a leaf.

The the greater banded hornet landed on the garden plant in Laguna, the Philippines on December 6, but immediately found itself in a spot of bother.

Hundreds of Ropalidia wasps gathered around the larger insect, which appeared to be waving its arms at its rival species to try and shoo them away.

Finally, the greater banded hornet admitted defeat and took flight.

Resident Wilhelm Tan was able to capture the insects on video. He said: ''The larger wasp seems to try to catch one of the smaller wasps, but it's just a hypothesis. It was having no luck as there were too many of the smaller wasps to challenge.

''Wasps are wonderful creatures, but they are sometimes represented wrongly as monsters.''