For the present study, we investigated the prey of Polistes rothneyi koreanus, which is the most common social wasp in South Korea, and the relationship between prey diversity and vegetation cover around their nests. Prey was collected over two 6‐hr sampling from seven nests between July and mid‐August 2015 in Daegu, Gyeongsan and Gunwi in South Korea. To analyse the prey spectrum, we identified species using DNA barcodes; to analyse vegetation cover, we used the normalized difference vegetation index in a 200 m radius around the nests. A total of 338 prey samples were collected, and eight orders, 24 families, and 65 species were identified, demonstrating a much broader prey spectrum than those previously recorded for Polistes spp. Lepidoptera were the most prevalent, with 158 samples and 47 species. Nest 7, located in a rural area, had the highest numbers of samples and species per worker (5.2 and 1.9, respectively). Lepidoptera accounted for over half of the prey spectrum for all nests, and the families Noctuidae and Geometridae accounted for 60% of all Lepidoptera. Tenodera sinensis (Mantodea) and Gabala argentata (Noctuidae) were the most ubiquitous species, collected at five locations. Six species and some genera of prey are designated as pests in South Korea, indicating that P. r. koreanus also has a beneficial role in pest control. A higher vegetation cover was associated with significantly higher prey species diversity (R2 = .4597, p < .1) and abundance (R2 = .5986, p < .05), indicating that vegetation cover is an important factor for maintaining colonies. Therefore, the recent increase in green spaces in South Korean cities is probably a major contributor to the increased density of social wasps.

We determined and annotated the whole mtDNA genome of the roe deer Capreolus pygargus tianschanicus in Korea. The complete mitogenome is a circular molecule of 16,357 bp in length, including 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and 2 non-coding regions (L-strand replication origin and control region). The mitogenome is AT-biased, with a nucleotide composition of 33.5% A, 30.0% T, 23.2% C, and 13.4% G. The phylogenetic analysis revealed the Korean roe deer C. p. tianschanicus is placed within the genus Caprelous clade, which has the water deer of the genus Hydropotes as sister clade.

The mitogenome of the Asian badger Meles leucurus from Korea is a circular molecule of 16,529 bp, consisting of a control region and a conserved set of 37 genes containing 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNA genes, and two rRNA genes ( 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA ). The mitogenome of M. leucurus is AT-biased, with a nucleotide composition of 33.1% A, 27.9% T, 25.4% C, and 13.5% G. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the badger M. leucurus from Korea is well grouped with that from China, forming a sister clade to M. meles from Japan.

Korean L. leiolepis of the genus Leontopodium could be discriminate from the foreign L. alpinum using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Among the 12 URP markers used for the detection, the URP-5 marker and the URP-7 marker detected polymorphic DNA bands, ranging from 400-1000 bp in the size of amplified DNA fragments.