• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.104-109
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• 2019

BACKGROUND: The invasive hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax has becomes a public concern in rural and urban South Korea. The technologies are necessary to develop a way to counter V. velutina. In an effort to develop a way to counter V. velutina, we found that a bacillus strain, named Bacillus sp. BV-1, produces volatile compounds that attract V. velutina. METHODS AND RESULTS: Field trials of V. velutina attraction were performed using plates and traps containing BV-1 cultures grown on sugar medium. When the sugar medium and sugar-grown BV-1 cultures in the plates were placed close together, V. velutina visited preferably the plates with the BV-1 cultures. Significantly more V. velutina were caught in the traps containing BV-1 cultures than in those containing only sugar medium. Headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with GC/MS analysis of BV-1 cultures detected 2-methyl-1-propanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol, 3-methylbutanoic acid, ethyl hexanoate, 2-pheylethanol, ethyl octanoate, and ethyl decanoate as the major volatiles. CONCLUSION: BV-1 cultures were suggested as potential agents for managing V. velutina as they produce volatile compounds that attract the hornet.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.367-374
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• 2015

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.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.506-514
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• 2019

Unlike natural ecosystems, the urban ecosystem proVides an interdependent enVironment in which wild organisms and urban people co-exist. Hornets (genus Vespa) appearing in urban green and parks haVe a positiVe effect on urban ecosystems, but they also cause ecosystem disserVices that cause physical and psychological discomforts to the urban people. Children's parks, for example, are Very popular among children and residents for easy accessibility, and hornets also use them as bases and habitats. HoweVer, there is still a lack of spatial analysis of habitats and appearance characteristics of hornets in children's parks. This study installed hornet traps in 27 children's parks in Cheonan from April to NoVember 2018 in consideration of the life cycle of hornets. We captured a total of fiVe Vespa species (Vespa crabro, V. analis, V. mandarinia, V. ducalis, and V. Velutina) for 32 weeks and analyzed the emergence of hornets in relation to the composition of seasonal characteristics, species characteristics, and enVironmental spatial information. We captured a total of 818 hornets during the study period. They included 290 V. analis (35.4%), 260 V. crabro (31.8%), 100 V. ducalis (12.1%), 87 V. mandaninia (10.6%), and 81 V. Velutina(9.9%). Most of the hornets showed a common feature that queen hornets were largely captured in May through June after they awake from hibernation, and the number of caught hornets decreased sharply beginning in mid-June, which was the cooperatiVe period. HoweVer, V. Velutina showed a seasonal specificity that more than 80% were captured beginning in the third week of October when other hornet species had already entered a decline phase. The analysis of the number of hornets caught in each spot in children's parks showed significant difference among the spots as 363 hornets (44.3%) were captured in top children's parks, and 35 hornets (4%) were captured in bottom children's parks. In particular, the mean NDVI (Normalized difference Vegetation index) of the top six children's parks was 0.79, and that of the bottom six children's parks was 0.38 (t=2.67*, *=p<0.05), indicating a significant difference. The frequency of capturing hornets was high when the ground around the children's parks was grass or bare land. This study is meaningful as a reference study that confirms the ecological characteristics of hornets appearing in green and parks in the city. We expect it to be a foundation for effectiVe urban green area management in the future.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.63 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2024

Vespa velutina nigrithorax du Buysson, 1905 is the invaded species in Korea since 2003. Since its importance as the honey bee pest, beekeepers use insecticides to kill the adult and immature hornets. However, its legality and effectiveness has not been confirmed. This study investigated the susceptibility of insecticides commonly used to control hornets by beekeepers in Korea. Eight insecticides were tested on adult worker and larvae by topical or oral treatment. Adults showed more than 70% mortalities from Clothianidin, Dinotefuran, and Carbosulfan treatment within 30 minutes. Bifenthrin and Cartap hydrochloride showed relatively low toxicity. The median lethal dose (LD₅₀) for Clothianidin, Dinotefuran, and Carbosulfan was 0.29, 0.65, and 2.21 ㎍/bee, respectively. In larval feeding test where 5^th instar larvae were fed 3 times every 24 hours, the mortality began after second treatments. After 3rd treatments (72 h), all insecticides showed mortality more than 70%. The LD₅₀ values of Clothianidin, Dinotefuran, and Carbosulfan to V. velutina were approximately 10 to 100 times higher than those to honey bee, Apis mellifera. This study provides the basic information of those chemical toxicities to Vespa hornet and honey bees.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.135-140
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• 2018

BACKGROUND: The Asian hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax), a wasp species, has attacked honey bee populations and affected the beekeeping industry in Korea over the past 15 years. However, little research has been done with this invasive species. In this study, we investigated the intestine bacterial microbiota of Asian hornets and honey bees to design an attractive trap for Asian hornets. METHODS AND RESULTS: Genomic DNAs isolated from the intestine microorganisms of Asian hornets and honey bees were utilized to amplify bacterial 16S rDNA for the comparative sequence analysis. The next generation sequencing analysis identified that the orders Flavobacteriales as the most abundant intestinal microorganisms in Asian hornets, showing a clear difference compared to honey bees in which Aeromonadales are dominant. We also report five newly identified 16S rDNA sequences of Asian hornet intestinal bacteria. According to the sequence blast search, these five bacteria belong to the genera Thalassomonas, Caedobacter, Vampirovibrio, Alkaliphilus and Calothrix. CONCLUSION: While Asian hornets and honey bees show similar intestine bacterial diversity, the relative ratio of bacterial populations is different. providing useful information to design pest control agents specifically targeting Asian hornets.

• Proceedings of the Korea Information Processing Society Conference
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• 2023.05a
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• pp.399-401
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• 2023

최근 꿀벌 집단 실종이 잇따라 발생하고 있으며 이에 대한 뚜렷한 원인은 없으나 꿀벌응애류, 말벌류에 의한 폐사와 이상기후가 복합적으로 작용했기 때문이라고 추측하고 있다. 추측하고 있는 원인 중 꿀벌 봉군의 약화 요인으로 작용하는 등검은말벌의 분포도를 시각화하여 꿀벌의 개체 수 피해를 줄이는 데 도움이 되고자 한다.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.101-107
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• 2021

The objective of this study was to analyze social wasps' urban distribution tendency based on 10 species found in two metropolitan cities (Busan and Daegu) of South Korea. There 10 species included six species (Vespa mandarinia, V. ducalis, V. crabro flavofasciata, Vespula koreensis koreensis, Parapolybia indica, and Polistes snelleni) of forest dwellers that inhabited urban main forests and satellite forests, two species (V. simillima simillima and V. analis parallela) of facultative dwellers that nested at diverse sites of urban areas with greater preference for urban forest, and two species (V. velutina nigrithorax and P. rothneyi koreanus) of urban dwellers that nested at almost all sites, including urban and forest areas. These urban dwellers were found to adapt well to an urban environment based on their far higher rate of urban nesting compared to facultative dwellers. When distribution tendencies of facultative dwellers and urban dwellers in Busan and Daegu were compared, a regular distribution was mostly observed in Busan with a dense forest network. For Daegu that lacked forest connectivity, the greatest distribution of species was found in the nearby urban forest. For Daegu, a city further away from forests, urban dwellers occurred far beyond forest sites compared to Busan with a dense forest network.