Flight capacities of yellow-legged hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax, Hymenoptera: Vespidae) workers from an invasive population in Europe.

ABSTRACT: The invasive yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina nigrithorax Lepeletier, 1836 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), is native to Southeast Asia. It was first detected in France (in the southwest) in 2005. It has since expanded throughout Europe and has caused significant harm to honeybee populations. We must better characterize the hornet's flight capacity to understand the species' success and develop improved control strategies. Here, we carried out a study in which we quantified the flight capacities of V. velutina workers using computerized flight mills. We observed that workers were able to spend around 40% of the daily 7-hour flight tests flying. On average, they flew 10km to 30km during each flight test, although there was a large amount of variation. Workers sampled in early summer had lower f

SUBMITTER: Sauvard D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5993251 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature