The native and exotic prey community of two invasive paper wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in New Zealand as determined by DNA barcoding

Abstract

Social wasps are invasive in many regions around the world. In their new communities, introduced predators such as these wasps may be beneficial as consumers of exotic pests, but they will also consume native species. Here, we examined the diet of the exotic European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) and the closely related congener, Polistes chinensis, in a region of New Zealand where they co-occur. DNA barcoding was used to analyse their diet. The diet of both wasp species was largely Lepidopteran but other orders such as Hemiptera, Diptera and Coleoptera were also represented. Our analysis showed substantial site-to-site variation in diet. The two wasps differed significantly in their prey, although these differences appear to be driven by taxa identified from a small number of DNA reads in a small number of samples. Native and introduced fauna were represented in the diets of both wasps and included important agricultural pests. Of the 92 prey taxa able to be identified to species level, 81 were identified as exotic or introduced to New Zealand. The remaining 11 were species native to New Zealand. However, our estimates suggest over 50% of the prey DNA in the wasp diet is derived from native species. These wasps are abundant in some coastal and urban habitats, where they are likely to consume pest species as well as native species of conservation importance. The ecosystem services or costs and benefits provided by these invasive species are likely to be contingent on the prey communities and habitats they occupy.

Identity, Prevalence, and Pathogenicity of Entomopathogenic Fungi Infecting Invasive Polistes (Vespidae: Polistinae) Paper Wasps in New Zealand

“…The Asian paper wasp Polistes chinensis is one of five eusocial wasp species considered invasive in New Zealand [ 31 , 32 , 33 ]. It was accidentally introduced in 1979 and has since established a country-wide distribution [ 34 , 35 ].…”

Invasive paper wasp (Polistes chinensis) ecology and invertebrate conservation on Onetahua (Farewell Spit)

“…However, they have also been found to be opportunistic predators in favour of foraging efficiency (Kudô, 1998). Cicadas have only been previously observed in the Aotearoa paper wasp prey community in Nelson, in which Kikihia muta was identified from 73% of P. dominula gut samples and 50% of those from P. chinensis (Howse et al, 2022). Geography may therefore have a significant impact these wasps' prey community composition.…”

“…These nests were randomly selected from a pool of previously discovered nests within the study area using random number generation. If a selected nest did not have larvae of a suitable size for Arthropod prey in bat faecal samples (Alberdi et al, 2020;Zeale et al, 2011) and Polistes larval gut samples (Howse et al, 2022). Seventy two of the 98 larval gut samples from which DNA was extracted amplified successfully.…”

“…The BLAST output and taxonomic data was sorted and cleaned to improve confidence in taxon identification and reduce the impact of false positives, following protocols similar to those outlined in Howse et al (2022). Alignments less than 100 bp in length, sequences with BLAST matches less than 98% similarity, and matches with less than 10 sequences retrieved per sample were removed (Vesterinen et al, 2018).…”

“…Though its colony sizes are relatively small, P. chinensis nests can occur in some locations at very high densities (Clapperton, 1999;Clapperton et al, 1996;Ward & Morgan, 2014). Like related species in Aotearoa, P. chinensis is likely causing significant impacts on local invertebrate communities, especially populations of native Lepidoptera (Beggs & Jo, 1999;Clapperton, 1999;Howse et al, 2022;Lefort et al, 2020;McGruddy et al, 2021b;Ward & Ramón-Laca, 2013), with native taxa constituting 62% of paper wasp diets in coastal areas (Ward & Ramón-Laca, 2013).…”