Emerging patterns in social wasp invasions

Rankin, Erin E. Wilson

doi:10.1016/j.cois.2021.02.014

Cited by 18 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 51 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Several species of yellowjacket wasps in the genus Vespula are particularly problematic in this respect [5]. During the 20 th century, members of the genus Vespula have become invasive in South America, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and a variety of islands where native arthropods have not coevolved with predatory vespines [6]. Given that these species are generalist predators, opportunistic scavengers, and often reach extreme densities in new environments, the effects on native arthropod communities have been profound.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbiome of the wasp Vespula pensylvanica in native and invasive populations, and associations with Moku virus

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Invasive species present a worldwide concern as competition and pathogen reservoirs for native species. Specifically, the invasive social wasp, Vespula pensylvanica, is native to western North America and has become naturalized in Hawaii, where it exerts pressures on native arthropod communities as a competitor and predator. As invasive species may alter the microbial and disease ecology of their introduced ranges, there is a need to understand the microbiomes and virology of social wasps. We used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to characterize the microbiome of V. pensylvanica samples pooled by colony across two geographically distinct ranges and found that wasps generally associate with taxa within the bacterial genera Fructobacillus, Fructilactobacillus, Lactococcus, Leuconostoc, and Zymobacter, and likely associate with environmentally-acquired bacteria. Furthermore, V. pensylvanica harbors—and in some cases were dominated by—many endosymbionts including Wolbachia, Sodalis, Arsenophonus, and Rickettsia, and were found to contain bee-associated taxa, likely due to scavenging on or predation upon honey bees. Next, we used reverse-transcriptase quantitative PCR to assay colony-level infection intensity for Moku virus (family: Iflaviridae), a recently-described disease that is known to infect multiple Hymenopteran species. While Moku virus was prevalent and in high titer, it did not associate with microbial diversity, indicating that the microbiome may not directly interact with Moku virus in V. pensylvanica in meaningful ways. Collectively, our results suggest that the invasive social wasp V. pensylvanica associates with a simple microbiome, may be infected with putative endosymbionts, likely acquires bacterial taxa from the environment and diet, and is often infected with Moku virus. Our results suggest that V. pensylvanica, like other invasive social insects, has the potential to act as a reservoir for bacteria pathogenic to other pollinators, though this requires experimental demonstration.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbiome of the wasp Vespula pensylvanica in native and invasive populations, and associations with Moku virus

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The inability of Western honey bees to efficiently defend themselves against allopatric Vespa species poses a serious issue in the case of invasive alien hornets [100]. The Asian yellow-legged hornet, V. velutina nigrithorax, in particular, has represented an emerging problem for European honey bees and commercial beekeeping since its first record in France in 2004 [15].…”

Section: Invasive Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hornets and Honey Bees: A Coevolutionary Arms Race between Ancient Adaptations and New Invasive Threats

Cappa

Cini

Bortolotti

et al. 2021

Insects

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hornets and honey bees have a long history of coevolution resulting in a plethora of captivating adaptations and counteradaptations between predator and prey. From simple physiological mechanisms to complex behavioral strategies, some Vespa hornets have specialized in hunting honey bees, while the latter have put in place effective defenses to counteract their attack. Both hornets and honey bees have evolved the ability to detect the odors and the pheromones emitted by the other to locate the prey or to spot foraging predators. Hornets often rely on their bigger size, heavily armored body and destructive attacks, while honey bees differentiated collective defense responses finely coordinated to deter or kill the hornet menace. However, when new species of hornets and honey bees come into contact, the absence of coevolution can have a heavy impact on the defenseless bees. The evolutionary arms race between hornets and honey bees provides not only compelling examples of adaptations and counteradaptations between predator and prey, but could also represent a starting point for the development of effective and sustainable strategies to protect honey bees and beekeeping activities and to control invasive alien species of hornets.

show abstract

“…They constitute an important part of our planet’s natural capital as top predators and regulators of insect populations, pollinators and seed dispersers 8 . Several species of Vespa have been inadvertently introduced outside of the native range where their colony life span can be longer and they have become problematic as invasive species 35 ; for instance the European hornet Vespa crabro has become established in the USA 34 . Some invasions threaten local fauna; e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting hornets on the genomic map

Favreau

Cini

Taylor

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hornets are the largest of the social wasps, and are important regulators of insect populations in their native ranges. Hornets are also very successful as invasive species, with often devastating economic, ecological and societal effects. Understanding why these wasps are such successful invaders is critical to managing future introductions and minimising impact on native biodiversity. Critical to the management toolkit is a comprehensive genomic resource for these insects. Here we provide the annotated genomes for two hornets, Vespa crabro and Vespa velutina. We compare their genomes with those of other social Hymenoptera, including the northern giant hornet Vespa mandarinia. The three hornet genomes show evidence of selection pressure on genes associated with reproduction, which might facilitate the transition into invasive ranges. Vespa crabro has experienced positive selection on the highest number of genes, including those putatively associated with molecular binding and olfactory systems. Caste-specific brain transcriptomic analysis also revealed 133 differentially expressed genes, some of which are associated with olfactory functions. This report provides a spring-board for advancing our understanding of the evolution and ecology of hornets, and opens up opportunities for using molecular methods in the future management of both native and invasive populations of these over-looked insects.

show abstract

Emerging patterns in social wasp invasions

Cited by 18 publications

References 51 publications

Microbiome of the wasp Vespula pensylvanica in native and invasive populations, and associations with Moku virus

Microbiome of the wasp Vespula pensylvanica in native and invasive populations, and associations with Moku virus

Hornets and Honey Bees: A Coevolutionary Arms Race between Ancient Adaptations and New Invasive Threats

Putting hornets on the genomic map

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About