Geographic potential of the world's largest hornet, Vespa mandarinia Smith (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), worldwide and particularly in North America

The Asian giant hornet (AGH, ) is the world's largest hornet, occurring naturally in the Indomalayan region, where it is a voracious predator of pollinating insects including honey bees. In September 2019, a nest of Asian giant hornets was detected outside of Vancouver, British Columbia; multip...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PeerJ (San Francisco, CA) CA), 2021-01, Vol.9, p.e10690-e10690, Article e10690
Main Authors: Nuñez-Penichet, Claudia, Osorio-Olvera, Luis, Gonzalez, Victor H, Cobos, Marlon E, Jiménez, Laura, DeRaad, Devon A, Alkishe, Abdelghafar, Contreras-Díaz, Rusby G, Nava-Bolaños, Angela, Utsumi, Kaera, Ashraf, Uzma, Adeboje, Adeola, Peterson, A Townsend, Soberon, Jorge
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bees
Biodiversity
Biogeography
Calibration
COVID-19
Ecology
Entomology
Honey
Humidity
Indigenous species
Nonnative species
Pests
Principal components analysis
Public health
Vespa mandarinia
Vespidae
Zoology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The Asian giant hornet (AGH, ) is the world's largest hornet, occurring naturally in the Indomalayan region, where it is a voracious predator of pollinating insects including honey bees. In September 2019, a nest of Asian giant hornets was detected outside of Vancouver, British Columbia; multiple individuals were detected in British Columbia and Washington state in 2020; and another nest was found and eradicated in Washington state in November 2020, indicating that the AGH may have successfully wintered in North America. Because hornets tend to spread rapidly and become pests, reliable estimates of the potential invasive range of in North America are needed to assess likely human and economic impacts, and to guide future eradication attempts. Here, we assess climatic suitability for AGH in North America, and suggest that, without control, this species could establish populations across the Pacific Northwest and much of eastern North America. Predicted suitable areas for AGH in North America overlap broadly with areas where honey production is highest, as well as with species-rich areas for native bumble bees and stingless bees of the genus in Mexico, highlighting the economic and environmental necessity of controlling this nascent invasion.
ISSN:2167-8359
2167-8359
DOI:10.7717/peerj.10690