NWE-IUSSI winter meeting 2020

Ignacio Ruiz-Cristi, Laurence Berville & Eric Darrouzet

Pinpointing the best thermic system to instantaneously immobilize the invasive Asian hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax

The Asian yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina nigrithorax(Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Lepeletier 1836) is an Indo-China species, which has been unintentionally introduced in France and is spreading in many areas of the world. This species, which is considered as Union concern in Europe, presented a major impact on beekeeping activities, mostly by preying honey bees (Apis mellifera) at the beehive entrances. Currently, none of the control methods developed are simultaneously biofriendly and efficient. With the ambition in providing an eco-selective approach to destroy V. velutinanests, Apis cerana behavior was taken as an example. Indeed, in their native area, A. cerana presents an effective collective defense mechanism against hornet’s attacks: the “heat ball”. In this study, diverse temperatures and thermal systems were tested, in a laboratory, against Vespa velutinaindividuals according to their sex, castes and developmental stages. The thermal resilience of all individuals decreased significantly with the increase in temperatures. Comparatively, hornets died faster went faced with a gradual rise in temperaturesthan when directly exposed to a set temperature; larvae seem to be the most resistants. Steam water seems to be the most suitable and promising technique to quickly eradicate hornets as they all succumbed before 13 seconds, and therefore could be a good candidate for a green nest control method.

Poster presentations –DOI : 10.13140/RG.2.2.23689.47205