Microsatellite variation in colonizing populations of yellow‐leggedAsian hornet,Vespa velutina nigrithorax, inSouthKorea

Abstract

Introduction of exotic species poses a tremendous challenge to the preservation of original biodiversity and productivity in natural ecosystems. The yellow-legged Asian hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax, which is native to tropical/subtropical areas in Indo-China, was identified in 2003 for the first time in South Korea and has established itself in a short period of time. Population genetic study of invasive species may provide exceptional opportunities to test evolutionary theory as well as patterns of colonization from the beginning of the process. Here, the genetic variability of this invasive hornet was examined using seven microsatellites to estimate the propagule pressure and to expect the spreading pathway of this invasive hornet across its range. Overall, there was a significant loss of genetic diversity in its invaded ranges compared to its native range, suggesting that this invasive hornet was introduced via a very small number of propagules. Our results also support that this invasive hornet has experienced a severe bottleneck, as a large reduction was mainly observed in the number of alleles but not in heterozygosity. No significant genetic structuring among populations was found. This study provides baseline information about the current demographic status of the invaded populations, which will help governing agencies prevent further invasions and manage native ecosystems.

Reconstructing the invasion and the demographic history of the yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina, in Europe

“…Each vertical line represents an individual, and the color composition displays the probability of belonging to each of the 2 10 clusters defined by STRUCTURE invasion histories. A recent study that used larger sample sizes from Korean populations confirms these general conclusions (Choi et al 2013).…”

“…The reason for this might be that the invasive hornet must contend with six other Vespa species in Korea, whereas only one, V. crabro, is present in France (Villemant et al 2011;Choi et al 2012). Vespa velutina is currently abundant in the southern part of Korea and has spread over one-third of the country as a whole (Choi et al 2013).…”

“…In contrast, the French population appeared as a single homogeneous genetic group for any number of clusters tested. Choi et al (2013) studied larger samples from two localities in Korea (44 and 43 samples, respectively) with 7 of the microsatellite markers included in the present study. Their results are in complete agreement with the results we obtained: (1) they showed a clear depletion of genetic diversity in Korea compared with native populations,…”

Caste differentiation and seasonal changes in Vespa velutina (Hym.: Vespidae) colonies in its introduced range

“…, ; Choi et al. , ). Nakamura and Sonthichai () also documented the number of workers in two V. velutina nests from Thailand: an average of 1129 workers and a maximum of 1456 individuals were observed.…”

Spread of the invasive yellow-legged hornet Vespa velutina (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in Italy

“…Introduced populations of the species are established in South Korea (Choi et al 2012(Choi et al , 2013, Japan (Ueno 2014) and different European countries (Villemant et al 2011a, b). In Europe the yellow-legged hornet was introduced in France probably in 2004 (Haxaire et al 2006;Villemant et al 2011b) and then the species colonized other countries such as Spain (Castro and Pagola-Carte 2010;Lopéz et al 2011), Portugal (Grosso-Silva and, Belgium (Bruneau 2011;Rome et al 2013), Italy and Germany (Witt 2015).…”