Occurrence of Hymenoptera (wasps and bees) and their foraging in the southwestern part of Jirisan National Park, South Korea

The aim of this study was to assess the occurrence and foraging of social and other wasps and bees in Jirisan National Park (JNP, South Korea), in particular in an apiary. Sixty one traps were placed in the southwestern part of JNP to identify social wasps from July to September 2014, and the damage to the apiary caused by wasps or bees was observed once a month from May to December 2014 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. In total, 10 species of Vespidae were collected by trapping. Vespa crabro was the most abundant (245 individuals, 28.3%), followed by Vespa velutina (162 individuals, 18.7%). In the apiary, however, V. velutina was the most frequent species. V. velutina visited a maximum of 167 times a day in September, which corresponded to one visit in 2.5 min. Accordingly, these data are in line with the most serious impact of V. velutina on the apiaries in South Korea. V. simillima was the second most frequent species; both Vespa species hawked honeybees. Even though the occurrence of V. mandarinia was low, this species caused serious damage by mass slaughter of honeybees. The occurrence of V. crabro, V. analis and V. ducalis was quite low and their impact on honeybees was negligible. There have been few reports of V. dybowskii foraging for honeybees, but they are considered to be a new pest because their impact on apiaries is considerable. Most Vespa species attacked the apiary from June to October, with a maximum in September. However, V. velutina visited until November to early December. Vespula species are not more serious pests than Vespa species, but many adults were observed stealing honey from beehives. Polistes, Orancistrocerus, and Bombus species had no impact on honeybee colonies in the apiary.