To better understand the impact of social wasps on the health of people in South Korea, we analyzed requests to emergency services call centers for the removal of social wasp nests and the effect of Hymenoptera stings on human health between 2010 and 2014. There were 483,233 calls requesting removal of wasp nests and Hymenoptera stings caused 78,860 injuries and 49 deaths. The strong relationships between both the number of emergency calls and injuries, and urban density reflect the sensitivity of densely populated areas to potential threats from wasp and the increased awareness of the wasp nest removal service communicated by public education programs. We found that the removed nests belonged to 17 species of social wasp, with Polistes rothneyi koreanus Vecht and Vespa velutina nigrithorax du Buysson being the most prevalent. Problems associated with the invasive V. v. nigrithorax increased as the species became more widely distributed across the country and more abundant in urban areas. Increases in the incidence of sting injuries among males aged 40-69 between July and September were likely due to increased exposure during outdoor activities involving less-fit adults. In total, 1.5% of victims required hospitalization, of which 98.5% were treated as outpatients. Total medical costs associated with wasp stings over the 5-yr period were approximately 3.2 million USD. Although most wasp sting-related injuries were minor, some were serious, including fatalities, and were probably attributable to lack of education on wasp attack behavior.

Conservation drones are remote-controlled devices capable of collecting information from difficult-to-access places while minimizing disturbance. Although drones are increasingly used in many research disciplines, their application to wildlife research remains to be explored in depth. This paper reports on the use of Phantom 2 Vision+ for monitoring areas in two national parks in South Korea. The first research area was conducted in Chiaksan National Park, and the second in Taeanhaean National Park. The aim of this research is to introduce ecologists and researchers alike to conservation drones and to show how these new tools have are fundamentally helping in the development of natural sciences. We also obtained photographs and videos of monitoring areas within our test site.

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.

The range of the invasive alien hornet, Vespa velutina nigrithorax, has been expanding since its introduction to Korea in 2003. Here, we compare the aggressive behaviors and body size of V. velutina nigrithorax with five native hornet species to identify the interspecific hierarchies that influence the rate of spread of this species. Aggressive behaviors were classified into 11 categories, and each interaction was scored as a win, loss, or tie. We found that V. velutina was superior to V. simillima in fights that V. velutina won and showed a high incidence of threatening behavior. V. mandarinia outperformed V. velutina in fights that V. mandarinia won and grappling behavior was common. V. analis was superior to V. velutina in fights that V. analis won and showed a high degree of threatening behavior. V. crabro was superior to V. velutina in fights that V. crabro won and showed a high rate of threatening behavior. V. dybowskii was superior to V. velutina in fights that V. dybowskii won and showed a high incidence of threatening and grappling behaviors. The body size of V. velutina was greater than V. simillima (although not statistically significant) and smaller than all other Vespa species. Therefore, according to this study, the low interspecific hierarchies of V. velutina seem to be a major cause of the slower spread in Korea than in Europe. However, over time, its density has gradually increased within the forest, where it seems to be overcoming its disadvantages and expanding its range, possibly because the large colonies and good flying abilities of this species help it secure food.

Background: As the habitat changes in Korea due to climate change, the emergence of disease-mediated vectors is increasing rapidly. Thus for the surveillance of mosquito-and chigger mite-borne disease, their seasonal prevalence and species composition were investigated at seven locations in Daegu, Gunwi and Sangju. Methods: Mosquitoes were collected twice every month from five collection sites using a black light and BG sentinel traps in Daegu and Gunwi from April through November. Chigger mites were investigated twice per month from wild rodents caught with Sherman live traps in Gunwi and Sangju from April through May and September through November. Results: A total of 2,361 female mosquitoes were collected. Cowshed (626 individuals, Trap index (TI) 44.7) and Kyungpook National University campus (846 individuals, TI 60.4) in Daegu had the highest number of mosquitoes in the black light and BG sentinel trap, respectively. The mosquitoes were collected more by BG sentinel trap than the black light trap. Nine mosquito species were trapped, and the Culex pipiens complex was the most commonly mosquito (1,397 individuals, 59.2%), followed by Anopheles sinensis (554 individuals, 23.5%). Anopheles sinensis (531 individuals, 51.9%) and Culex pipiens complex (1,142 individuals, 85.4%) were the most mosquitoes from black light and BG sentinel trap, respectively. In terms of seasonal prevalence, the highest abundance was in July, with 824 individuals collected. In chigger mites, eighty-one wild rodents of five species that are hosts of chigger mites were collected; among them, 53 and 25 individuals of Apodemus agrarius and Crocidura suaveolens, respectively were trapped. Leptotrombidium pallidum was a dominant species, with 2,467 individuals collected (67.8%). Conclusions: The mosquito was the dominant species in Culex pipiens complex and the highest in July and August. Apodemus agrarius was most abundant in wild rats and Leptotrombidium pallidum was dominant in the collected chigger mites.

This study was conducted to examine the nutritional status of the grasshopper (Oxya chinensis formosana, OCF) as human food, exploring it as an alternative edible resource. Analysis of free amino acid shows that there are various essential amino acids in addition to saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in OCF dried powder. Analysis of the mineral contents and vitamins of dried OCF indicates that it is rich in calcium, vitamin B6, and niacin. The heavy metal content of OCF recorded was low, making it safe for human consumption: OCF had plumbum at 0.01–0.03 mg/100 g, cadmium at 0.002–0.005 mg/100 g, arsenic at 0.07–0.17 mg/100 g, and mercury at 0.0003–0.0007 mg/100 g. In conclusion, given its high nutritive quality in terms of proteins and fats, coupled with lower heavy metal content, it would be recommended to use the grasshopper (OCF) as substitute to the traditional sources of protein.

The white‐spotted flower chafer, Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis (Kolbe), is used as an important source of medicinal properties, such as anti‐cancer activity and prevention of liver‐related diseases, in Korea. To use this insect species without endangering wild populations, a mass rearing technique is needed. The present study was carried out to determine whether different diets can affect the larval growth of P. brevitarsis seulensis. Six different diets were investigated in the experiment, and the results showed that 20% rice straw with 80% oakwood sawdust was the best diet for larval growth of this beetle.

The present study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of fermented aloe vera mixed diet on larval growth of Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis (Kolbe) (coleopteran: Cetoniidae) and protective effects of extract of larvae of P. brevitarsis seulensis fed fermented aloe vera mixed diet against Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)‐induced hepatotoxicity in Sprague–Dawley rats. To determine whether different diets can affect the larval growth of P. brevitarsis seulensis, six different diets were investigated in the experiment, and the results exhibited that 15% fermented aloe vera with 85% fermented oakwood sawdust was the best diet for larval growth of this insect, followed by 9% fermented aloe vera with 91% fermented oakwood sawdust. Adult male Sprague–Dawley rats (n= 30) were separated into five groups of six each, as follows: control group; CCl4 group; CCl4 plus larval extract group (without fermented aloe vera); CCl4 plus 9% and 15% larval extract groups (with fermented aloe vera). All extract groups were fed with 30 mg/kg extracts of fermented oakwood sawdust only and fermented oakwood sawdust plus 9% and 15% fermented aloe vera, respectively, once every consecutive day, with administration of CCl4 (1.5 mL/kg, 20% CCl4 in olive oil) twice a week for 3 weeks. Administration of CCl4 increased the serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotranseferase and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance levels in rats and reduced levels of glutathione in the liver. Treatment with extract of larval‐fed fermented aloe vera mixed diet significantly alleviated these changes to nearly normal levels. The histopathological changes induced by CCl4 were also significantly attenuated by extract of larval‐fed fermented aloe vera mixed diet treatment. The results suggest that the beneficial effect of fermented aloe vera mixed diet on larval growth may be to stimulate the larval life cycle, and 15% larval‐fed fermented aloe vera mixed diet exhibits potent hepatoprotective effects on CCl4‐induced liver injury in rats, likely due to increased glutathione contents and the inhibition of lipid peroxidation.