Behavioral responses of honey bees,Apis ceranaandApis mellifera, toVespa mandariniamarking and alarm pheromones

McClenaghan, Beverly; Schlaf, Marcel; Geddes, Megan; Mazza, Joshua; Pitman, Grace M.; McCallum, Kaileigh; Rawluk, Samuel; Hand, K.; Otis, Gard W.

doi:10.1080/00218839.2018.1494917

Cited by 27 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…1 A ), where it is a predator of arthropods, including honey bees ( 1 ). Attacks by V. mandarinia on beehives involve pheromone marking to recruit hornets, and rapid killing of workers ( 2 ). Japanese honey bees ( Apis cerana ) can counter these attacks, but Apis mellifera (European honey bee) lacks effective defenses ( 2 ).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Assessing the ecological niche and invasion potential of the Asian giant hornet

Zhu

Illán

Looney

et al. 2020

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) was recently detected in western British Columbia, Canada and Washington State, United States. V. mandarinia are an invasion concern due to their ability to kill honey bees and affect humans. Here, we used habitat suitability models and dispersal simulations to assess potential invasive spread of V. mandarinia. We show V. mandarinia are most likely to establish in areas with warm to cool annual mean temperature, high precipitation, and high human activity. The realized niche of introduced populations is small compared to native populations, suggesting introduced populations could spread into habitats across a broader range of environmental conditions. Dispersal simulations also show that V. mandarinia could rapidly spread throughout western North America without containment. Given its potential negative impacts and capacity for spread, extensive monitoring and eradication efforts throughout western North America are warranted.

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confidence: 99%

“…1 B ) ( 3 ). Introduction of V. mandarinia in North America is concerning because honey bees are highly vulnerable to hornets ( 2 ). V. mandarinia is also medically important, delivering painful stings with cytolytic venom.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the ecological niche and invasion potential of the Asian giant hornet

Zhu

Illán

Looney

et al. 2020

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…It is crucial to consider this potential threat because both Bombus and Melipona bees are important pollinators that have already experienced population losses and local extirpations, reflecting changes in landscape and agricultural intensification (Brown & Albrecht, 2001; Cameron et al, 2011). Furthermore, these species, as well as the European honey bee, lack behavioral responses to prevent predation by the AGH (Matsuura & Sakagami, 1973; McClenaghan et al, 2019), because they have no shared evolutionary history with the AGH, and are thus vulnerable to its predatory and antagonistic behavior. The economic and cultural importance of species of Melipona in America is well-documented, particularly in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, where these bees have been traditionally raised for honey and were even considered gods outright in Mayan times (Ayala, Gonzalez & Engel, 2013; Quezada-Euán et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The heat generated by the vibration of the bees’ flight muscles, and the resulting high levels of CO2 from respiration effectively kill the hornet (Ono et al, 1995; Sugahara, Nishimura & Sakamoto, 2012). In contrast, European honey bees ( A. mellifera L.) cannot detect and respond to AGH marking pheromones and colonies are more or less defenseless against AGH attacks (McClenaghan et al, 2019). As few as a dozen AGH can destroy a European honey bee colony of up to 30,000 individuals (Matsuura & Sakagami, 1973).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Nuñez‐Penichet

Osorio‐Olvera

Gonzalez

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The Asian giant hornet (AGH, Vespa mandarinia) 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 and in May 2020 an individual was detected nearby in Washington state, indicating that the AGH successfully overwintered in North America. Because hornets tend to spread rapidly and become pests, reliable estimates of the potential invasive range of V. mandarinia 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 Melipona in Mexico, highlighting the economic and environmental necessity of controlling this nascent invasion.

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“…A. cerana workers often thwart potential extermination of their colony using a suite of known defensive behaviors. When potential hornet scouts are detected, A. cerana workers retreat into nests, produce vibratory signals that encode the severity of threat at the nest entrance, and stimulate their nestmates (in part by the release of alarm pheromone) to prepare to "heat ball" scouting hornets [7,11,20,43,44]. In Japan, A. c. japonica has been documented waggle dancing at hive entrances after exposure to tethered V. mandarinia, a behavior that stimulates foragers to collect and smear plant-based materials around nest entrances, possibly interfering with pheromones deposited by hornet scouts [45,46].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Honey bees (Apis cerana) use animal feces as a tool to defend colonies against group attack by giant hornets (Vespa soror)

et al. 2020

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Honey bees (genus Apis) are well known for the impressive suite of nest defenses they have evolved to protect their abundant stockpiles of food and the large colonies they sustain. In Asia, honey bees have evolved under tremendous predatory pressure from social wasps in the genus Vespa, the most formidable of which are the giant hornets that attack colonies in groups, kill adult defenders, and prey on brood. We document for the first time an extraordinary collective defense used by Apis cerana against the giant hornet Vespa soror. In response to attack by V. soror, A. cerana workers foraged for and applied spots of animal feces around their nest entrances. Fecal spotting increased after colonies were exposed either to naturally occurring attacks or to chemicals that scout hornets use to target colonies for mass attack. Spotting continued for days after attacks ceased and occurred in response to V. soror, which frequently landed at and chewed on entrances to breach nests, but not Vespa velutina, a smaller hornet that rarely landed at entrances. Moderate to heavy fecal spotting suppressed attempts by V. soror to penetrate nests by lowering the incidence of multiple-hornet attacks and substantially reducing the likelihood of them approaching and chewing on entrances. We argue that A. cerana forages for animal feces because it has properties that repel this deadly predator from nest entrances, providing the first report of tool use by honey bees and the first evidence that they forage for solids that are not derived from plants. Our study describes a remarkable weapon in the already sophisticated portfolio of defenses that honey bees have evolved in response to the predatory threats they face. It also highlights the strong selective pressure honey bees will encounter if giant hornets, recently detected in western North America, become established.

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Behavioral responses of honey bees,Apis ceranaandApis mellifera, toVespa mandariniamarking and alarm pheromones

Cited by 27 publications

References 30 publications

Assessing the ecological niche and invasion potential of the Asian giant hornet

Assessing the ecological niche and invasion potential of the Asian giant hornet

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

Honey bees (Apis cerana) use animal feces as a tool to defend colonies against group attack by giant hornets (Vespa soror)

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