Vespa soror

Vespa soror, also known as the southern giant hornet,[1] is a species of hornet present in India, Northern Thailand, Laos, Northern Vietnam, and parts of South China, including Hong Kong, Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan Island.[2]

Vespa soror
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Vespidae
Genus: Vespa
Species:
V. soror
Binomial name
Vespa soror
Buysson, 1905
Synonyms

Vespa ducalis var. soror du Buysson, 1905
Vespa mandarina [sic] soror van der Vecht, 1957

V. soror is one of the largest hornets, though smaller than the Asian giant hornet (V. mandarinia). The body lengths of the workers range from 26–35 mm, and those of queens range from 39–46 mm. Their nests are typically subterranean and found in forested areas.

They are aggressive predators and have been observed to attack the nests of honeybees, wasps, and smaller hornet species. They also prey on mantids, dragonflies, butterflies, grasshoppers, and small vertebrates such as geckos.[3]

Predation on honeybees

V. soror frequently attack bee colonies in groups, landing at and chewing on entrances, mass slaughtering adult defenders, and carrying away the carcasses and brood, which can destroy a colony. They exhibit behavior of rubbing their gasters on the hive and nearby vegetation during predation, and this may be a recruitment signal to attract other V. soror workers to attack.[4] A defensive technique of Apis cerana bees that has been found to be widespread in Vietnam and reported in China, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal, is to attach spots of animal faeces of about 2mm diameter around the entrance to hives. This is the first time that honeybees have been reported to use tools, or non-plant substances, though both of these have been reported for other related bees (e.g.,[5][6][7]). The bees only spotted their hives after visits from predatory hornets. Hornets were observed to spend less than half the time at nest entrances if they were spotted, and 94 % less time trying to chew their way in. The reason for the effectiveness is not known.[8][9][10]

Distribution

Introduced

V. soror is not believed to have any established introduced populations - including in North America,[11][12] where congener V. mandarinia is introduced. However one queen was found at Vancouver Harbor, British Columbia, Canada in May 2019.[13][14][15] This is believed to be associated with the port and not a wider population in North America.[13][14][15][16][17]

References
  1. "'Northern Giant Hornet' Adopted as Common Name for Vespa mandarinia". entsoc.org. Entomological Society of America. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  2. Smith-Pardo, Allan H; Carpenter, James M; Kimsey, Lynn (2020-05-01). Hines, Heather (ed.). "The Diversity of Hornets in the Genus Vespa (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Vespinae), Their Importance and Interceptions in the United States" (PDF). Insect Systematics and Diversity. Oxford University Press (OUP). 4 (3). doi:10.1093/isd/ixaa006. ISSN 2399-3421.
  3. Lee, John X. Q. (April 2009). "A note on Vespa soror (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in Hong Kong" (PDF). Hong Kong Entomological Bulletin. 1 (1): 18–22. ISSN 2079-178X. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 24, 2018.
  4. Mattila, Heather R; Shimano, Satoshi; Otis, Gard W; Nguyen, Lien T P; Maul, Erica R; Billen, Johan (2021-11-18). Shields, Vonnie (ed.). "Linking the Morphology of Sternal Glands to Rubbing Behavior by Vespa soror (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) Workers During Recruitment for Group Predation". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1093/aesa/saab048. ISSN 0013-8746.
  5. Alem, Sylvain; Perry, Clint J.; Zhu, Xingfu; Loukola, Olli J.; Ingraham, Thomas; Søvik, Eirik; Chittka, Lars (2016-10-04). Louis, Matthieu (ed.). "Associative Mechanisms Allow for Social Learning and Cultural Transmission of String Pulling in an Insect". PLOS Biology. Public Library of Science (PLoS). 14 (10): e1002564. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1002564. ISSN 1545-7885. PMC 5049772. PMID 27701411.
  6. Basari, Norasmah; Ramli, Sarah; Mohd Khairi, Nur (2018-10-11). "Food Reward and Distance Influence the Foraging Pattern of Stingless Bee, Heterotrigona itama". Insects. MDPI AG. 9 (4): 138. doi:10.3390/insects9040138. ISSN 2075-4450. PMC 6315735. PMID 30314344.
  7. Jalil, A.H. (2014). Beescape for Meliponines: Conservation of Indo-Malayan Stingless Bees. ISBN 978-1482823615.
  8. Damian, Carrington (9 December 2020). "Honey bees use animal poo to repel giant hornet attacks". The Guardian.
  9. Mattila, Heather R.; Otis, Gard W.; Nguyen, Lien T. P.; Pham, Hanh D.; Knight, Olivia M.; Phan, Ngoc T. (2020-12-09). Blenau, Wolfgang (ed.). "Honey bees (Apis cerana) use animal feces as a tool to defend colonies against group attack by giant hornets (Vespa soror)". PLOS One. Public Library of Science (PLoS). 15 (12): e0242668. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0242668. ISSN 1932-6203. PMID 33296376.
  10. University of Guelph (2020-12-09). "Honey bees fend off giant hornets with animal dung". Phys.org. Phys.org. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  11. "Vespa soror". iNaturalist. 2014-02-11. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
  12. "Vespa soror". Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
  13. Westendorp, Paul van. Nest Zero. TVW, Washington States' Public Affairs Network. Starts at 00:12:55.
  14. "New Honey Bee Pests In North America". Bee Culture. 2020-08-01. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
  15. Kozak, Paul; Otis, Gard. "From the Province" (PDF). Ontario Animal Health Network.
  16. "Proceedings 2019/20" (PDF). Hilton Garden Inn, Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists. 2020-01-21.
  17. Potter, Tammy Horn. Reed, Mary (ed.). "May-June 2020" (PDF). Apiary Inspectors of America.

See also


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