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

Abstract

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.

Modelling spatial point patterns of Asian Giant Hornets occurrences

“…Studies often cover ecological aspects like taxonomy [15], morphology [17], and urbanization impacts [15]. The Asian giant hornet's global spread is increasingly studied using ecological niche modelling (ENM) for distribution prediction with environmental and human factors [2], climate change [18], and honey production and species diversity [19]. ENM, or species niche modelling [20], uses algorithms with climatic and environmental data [21] employing techniques like regression and machine learning (SVM, ANN).…”