DOCSLIB.ORG

High Frequency Sounds Produced by Cyprian Honeybees Apis Mellifera Cypria When Confronting Their Predator, the Oriental Hornet V

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
High Frequency Sounds Produced by Cyprian Honeybees Apis Mellifera Cypria When Confronting Their Predator, the Oriental Hornet V High frequency sounds produced by Cyprian honeybees Apis mellifera cypria when confronting their predator, the Oriental hornet Vespa orientalis Alexandros Papachristoforou, Jérôme Sueur, Agnès Rortais, Sotirios Angelopoulos, Andreas Thrasyvoulou, Gérard Arnold To cite this version: Alexandros Papachristoforou, Jérôme Sueur, Agnès Rortais, Sotirios Angelopoulos, Andreas Thrasyvoulou, et al.. High frequency sounds produced by Cyprian honeybees Apis mellifera cypria when confronting their predator, the Oriental hornet Vespa orientalis. Apidologie, Springer Verlag, 2008, 39 (4), pp.468-474. hal-00891958 HAL Id: hal-00891958 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00891958 Submitted on 1 Jan 2008 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Apidologie 39 (2008) 468–474 Available online at: c INRA/DIB-AGIB/ EDP Sciences, 2008 www.apidologie.org DOI: 10.1051/apido:2008027 Original article High frequency sounds produced by Cyprian honeybees Apis mellifera cypria when confronting their predator, the Oriental hornet Vespa orientalis* Alexandros Papachristoforou1,JérômeSueur2, Agnès Rortais3, Sotirios Angelopoulos4, Andreas Thrasyvoulou1, Gérard Arnold3 1 Laboratory of Apiculture-Sericulture, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece 2 Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Département Systématique et Évolution, USM 601 MNHN & UMR 5202 CNRS, BP 50, 45 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France 3 Laboratoire Évolution, Génomes, Spéciation, CNRS UPR 9034, Université Paris-Sud 11, Orsay, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France 4 Laboratory of Engineering Geology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Received 28 December 2007 – Revised 28 February 2008 – Accepted 18 March 2008 Abstract – Honeybees face several predators and their ability to express collective defence behaviour is one of their major life traits that promote colony survival. We discovered that, while confronting attacks by the Oriental hornet Vespa orientalis, Apis mellifera cypria honeybees engage in a distinct acoustic behaviour: they produce a characteristic hissing sound of unexpectedly high frequency. When recording and analysing these hissing sounds during an extended sample of artificial attacks by hornets, we found that honeybees can produce sounds covering a wide frequency spectrum with a dominant frequency around 6 kHz. Notably, these acoustic emissions are distinct from the background noise of neighbouring flying bees. These results provide a detailed description of the sounds generated by A. m. cypria when defending their nest against hornets, and they could be used for future research to better understand the biological function of the acoustic behaviour in honeybees’ colony defence. hissing sound / colony defence / Apis mellifera cypria / Vespa orientalis / prey-predator contest 1. INTRODUCTION velutina Lepeletier in France and its rapid dispersal (Villemant et al., 2006) may repre- Massive defence behaviour is a predom- sent a threat to bee colonies. Fine-tuning co- inant life trait of social bees. Honeybees evolving prey-predator relationships allow co- face several predators during their cycle. Hor- existence among sympatric species, but in the nets (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) are particularly case of recent invasion, such relationships may known to induce serious damages to apiaries not have the time to develop. However, given by killing many individual honeybees or even the relatively high number of Apis mellifera by destroying entire colonies and occupy- subspecies and their large geographic range ing the beehive, using its resources (honey, and habitat characteristics, a wide variety of pollen, brood and adult honeybees) to feed behavioural responses are expected among their brood (Morse, 1978; Ono et al., 1987, them (Ruttner, 1988), including defensive be- 1995; Abrol, 1994; Ken et al., 2005). The haviour. Collective anti-predator behaviour, recent invasion of the Asiatic hornet Vespa which promotes colony safety, may be char- acterized by specific displays such as the Corresponding author: A. Papachristoforou, so-called “curtain phenomenon”, the “heat- [email protected] balling” strategy and in some other cases the * Manuscript editor: Stan Schneider stinging behaviour (Breed et al., 2004). During Article published by EDP Sciences and available at http://www.apidologie.org or http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/apido:2008027 A. m. cypria defence behaviour towards Vespa orientalis 469 such aggressive interactions, bees are also able made with a Sennheiser ME64 microphone (fre- to release alarm pheromones (i.e. isoamyl ac- quency response: ± 2.5 dB between 0.04 kHz and etate, 2-heptanone) and to produce typical 20 kHz) connected to a Marantz PMD 670 digital sounds, namely “hissing” or “shimmering”, recorder (16 bit/44.1 kHz sampling frequency). The which may serve as alarms to deter intruder microphone was set up at the beehive entrance, 5– attacks and recruit defending bees (Lindauer, 20 cm from the defending bees engaged in conflicts. 1956; Schneider and Kloft, 1971; Fuchs and To simulate attacks, hornets were collected in the Koeniger, 1974; Ohtani and Kamada, 1980; apiaries and were anaesthetized by CO2 for 5 sec- Seeley et al., 1982; Kastberger and Sharma, onds and then tied at the petiole to a stick with a 2000; Sen-Sarma et al., 2002). These signals 10 cm nylon wire to a stick. When hornets fully recovered, they were brought to the beehive flight show a 0.3–0.7 kHz fundamental frequency board and exposed to colonies guards. with harmonic bands extending up to 5 kHz. Sounds emitted during visual and physical con- In the endemic honeybee of Cyprus A. m. ff tacts with hornets were analysed using Avisoft cypria, a specific and e ective defensive (Specht, 2004) and Seewave (Sueur et al., in press). behaviour against its main native predator, the Hisses were detected by computing sliding short- Oriental hornet V. orientalis has been demon- term Fourier transforms (Hamming window du- strated (Morse, 1978). This behaviour consists ration = 0.023 s, 87.5% of overlap). Hiss dura- of coordinated, collective defence behaviour tion was measured with a 0.001 s precision, and against the attacking hornet that involves frequency properties were described by comput- shimmering and balling. During conflict and, ing Fourier transform in the middle of the sound especially, during balling, Cyprian honeybees (frequency precision = 11 Hz). The resulting fre- can induce the death of the predator through quency spectrum allowed measuring the funda- asphyxiation (Papachristoforou et al., 2007) mental frequency f0 (i.e. the lowest frequency and produce a very distinct hissing sound band) and the dominant frequency (i.e. the fre- (Butler, 1954). Yet, no systematic acoustic quency band with the highest energy). Because the documentation deriving from a large sample of fundamental frequency was difficult to detect, it recordings of this acoustic behaviour has ever was indirectly estimated by measuring two succes- been attempted. In particular, no comparison sive harmonic peaks fn and fn+1 and computing − = + − = has been conducted to estimate its variability fn+1 fn (n 1) f0 nf0 f0. The fundamental and to test for potential acoustic differences frequency of the background sound due to flying bees was estimated on spectrum computed imme- within and between colonies. To better under- diately before or after the hiss. stand the interactions between honeybees and Mean, standard deviation and inter-quartile- one of their main predator and thus to help esti- range (IQR) were calculated for each variable mating the risks for apiculture, but also for bio- (hiss duration, hiss dominant frequency, hiss and diversity since such predators may have an im- buzz fundamental frequency) and the normality portant impact on ecosystems (Abrol, 1994), Shapiro-Wilk test was run before conducting para- we studied in detail the high-frequency sounds metric or non-parametric tests (one-way ANOVAs produced by A. m. cypria when attacked by V. and Kruskal-Wallis tests, respectively). To assess orientalis. potential differences between colonies, the ratio CVw/CVb was calculated for each parameter, where CVw is the within-colony variation and CVb is the 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS between-colony variation (Sokal and Rohlf, 1995). All statistics were run using R (R Development The sounds produced by A. m. cypria were Core Team, 2004). recorded in nine colonies in Cyprus (Amiantos- N34◦53’, E32◦56’; Alassa-N34◦46’, E32◦57’). These sounds included both defence hisses pro- 3. RESULTS duced by guards and buzzes due to flying activity of workers. Experiments were conducted between the During conflict with hornets, honeybees ex- end of September and beginning of October 2006, hibited intense collective defence by engulfing which is the period of the most extensive flying ac- and trapping the intruder in balls of 50–120 de- tivity and predation for hornets. Recordings were fending guards. Before the beginning or during 470 A. Papachristoforou et al. Figure 1. Two successive hisses produced during hornet attacks:
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Macedonian Journal of Ecology and Environment Diversity of Invertebrates in the Republic of Macedonia
    Macedonian Journal of Ecology and Environment Vol. 17, issue 1 pp. 5-44 Skopje (2015) ISSN 1857 - 8330 Original scientific paper Available online at www.mjee.org.mk Diversity of invertebrates in the Republic of Macedonia Диверзитет на безрбетниците во Република Македонија 1,2, * 1,2 3 4 Slavčo HRISTOVSKI , Valentina SLAVEVSKA-STAMENKOVIĆ , Nikola HRISTOVSKI , Kiril ARSOVSKI , 5 6 6 7 8 Rostislav BEKCHIEV , Dragan CHOBANOV , Ivaylo DEDOV , Dušan DEVETAK , Ivo KARAMAN , Despina 2 9 6 2 10 KITANOVA , Marjan KOMNENOV , Toshko LJUBOMIROV , Dime MELOVSKI , Vladimir PEŠIĆ , Nikolay 5 SIMOV 1 Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Arhimedova 5, 1000 Skopje, Macedonia 2 Macedonian Ecological Society, Vladimir Nazor 10, 1000 Skopje, Macedonia 3 Faculty of Biotechnology, St. Kliment Ohridski University, 7000 Bitola, Macedonia 4 Biology Students' Research Society, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Arhimedova 5, 1000 Skopje, Macedonia 5 National Museum of Natural History, 1 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria 6 Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria 7 Department of Biology, University of Maribor, Koroška cesta 160, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia 8 Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, Trg D. Obradovića 2, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia 9 Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, 68100 Alexandroupoli, Greece 10 Department of Biology, University of Montenegro, 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro The assessment of the diversity of invertebrates in Macedonia was based on previous assess- ments and analyses of new published data in the period 2003-2013 (after the first country study on biodiversity).
    [Show full text]
  • Vespa Orientalis Linnaeus 1771 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) Para Andalucía (España)
    Nuevas citas y observaciones Primeras citas del avispón oriental Vespa orientalis Linnaeus 1771 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) para Andalucía (España). Iñigo Sánchez1, María del Carmen Fajardo2 & Manuel Castro3 1 Zoobotánico de Jerez. c/ Madreselva s/n. 11408 Jerez de la Frontera (Miembro de la SGHN) 2 c/ Domingo Savio 36ª. 11203 Algeciras (Miembro de la SGHN) 3 Colonia San Miguel. Calle Árbol del Paraíso, 7. 11205 Algeciras Recibido: 25 de enero de 2019. Aceptado (versión revisada): 7 de febrero de 2019. Publicado en línea: 18 de febrero de 2019. First records of the Oriental Hornet Vespa orientalis Linnaeus 1771 from Andalusia (Spain) Palabras claves: Hymenoptera; Vespidae; Vespa orientalis; especie exóica; Algeciras; Andalucía; España. Keywords: Hymenoptera; Vespidae; Vespa orientalis; exoic species; Algeciras; Cadiz; Andalusia; Spain. Resumen Abstract Se cita por primera vez para Andalucía el himenóptero Vespa The Oriental hornet Vespa orientalis Linnaeus 1771 has been recorded orientalis Linnaeus 1771. Todos los ejemplares fueron detectados en for the first ime in Andalusia. All the specimens were detected in the el otoño de 2018 en la ciudad de Algeciras (Cádiz). El número de autumn of 2018 in the city of Algeciras (Cadiz). The number of individuos localizados, la distancia entre las observaciones y la individuals spoted, the distance between the locaions and the presencia de individuos de ambos sexos apuntan a un probable presence of individuals of both sexes, suggest a probable setlement asentamiento de la especie en la localidad. Se exponen algunos of the species in the locality. Some aspects related to its probable aspectos relacionados con su probable entrada a través del tráfico entry to the port of Algeciras via merchant traffic are exposed, as well mercante que arriba al puerto de Algeciras, así como otros as others related to the ecology and the possible impacts of this taxon relacionados con la ecología y con los posibles impactos de este which is clearly adapted to dry climates.
    [Show full text]
  • Testing the Efficacy of Some Methods Recommended
    Glaiim & et al Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus. (2008)10 (3): 21-27 TESTING THE EFFICACY OF SOME METHODS RECOMMENDED ABROAD FOR CONTROLLING THE ORIENTAL HORNET, VESPA ORIENTALIS L., ATTACKING HONEY BEE, APIS MELLIFERA L., COLONIES IN IRAQ Murtadh K. Glaiim* Huda A. Mahdi** Hassan A. Ibrahim** *Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Kerbala University, Iraq. **State Board for Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Iraq. ABSTRACT Some methods recommended abroad to control the oriental hornet, Vespa orientalis L., attacking the honey bee, Apis mellifera L., colonies were tested, with some modifications, for the first time under the Iraqi conditions. One of these methods was carried out by covering the hive entrance with a piece of queen excluder to prevent the hornet from entering the hive. Also, the position of hive stand was reversed to deprive the hornet from using the flight board as a stage for waiting and creeping toward the defending bees. The second method was carried out by fixing a cardboard cone as a bee passage at the hive entrance to hinder the entry of the hornet into the hive. Both of these methods were found to be unsuccessful to control the hornet. Also, the use of vinegar traps had an adverse effect, for only worker honey bees and dipterous insects, rather than the hornets, were trapped in large numbers. INTRODUCTION The oriental hornet, Vespa orientalis L., is a key pest attacking honey bee colonies in many countries (Ishay et al. 1967; Klein and Adler, 1996; Gomaa and Abd El-Wahab, 2006; Haddad et al., 2006). Beekeepers in different countries including Iraq have practiced many measures invented by the beekeepers themselves to control all the species of the genus, Vespa.
    [Show full text]
  • Carriage of Coliform Bacilli by the Oriental Hornet ( Vespa Orientalis
    68 CARRIAGE OF COLIFORM BACILLI BY THE ORIENTAL HORNET {VESPA ORIENTALIS FABR.). BY P. A. BUXTON, M.A., F.E.S., M.R.C.S. Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. THE large red Oriental Hornet (Vespa orientalis Fabr.) must be extremely familiar to all who served in Mesopotamia. The Rev. F. D. Morice, who has been good enough to identify my specimens, tells me that it can barely be distinguished from Vespa crabfo L., the European hornet, except by its colour. It is widely distributed in the Mediterranean countries up to lat. 47° N. and occurs S. to Abyssinia and Madagascar, E. to India, and also as an introduced species in certain parts of S. America. In Mesopotamia the nests are made in hollows in mud walls, under old roofs, in the brick sides of wells and similar situations. The hybernated females appear in the early spring, and workers are first seen in mid-June. During August, September and October they are exceedingly abundant and sometimes conceal from view the joints of meat on which they are feeding in the butchers' shops. They also devour all sorts of fruit, particularly fresh dates in the bazaars. It is a matter of common knowledge that this insect feeds on all forms of household refuse, especially faeces of men and animals, and the dried carcases that one finds so frequently on the edge of Arab towns. I once observed hundreds of workers gorging themselves at a stream of blood and putrid offal which oozed from beneath the door of the Jewish slaughter house in Baghdad; this was in September 1917.
    [Show full text]
  • Domestic Livestock Resources of Turkey – Honey Bee Orhan Yilmaz1*, R
    Scholars Journal of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences e-ISSN 2348–1854 Sch J Agric Vet Sci 2017; 4(10):382-395 p-ISSN 2348–8883 ©Scholars Academic and Scientific Publishers (SAS Publishers) (An International Publisher for Academic and Scientific Resources) Domestic Livestock Resources of Turkey – Honey Bee Orhan Yilmaz1*, R. Trevor Wilson2, Mehmet Ertugrul3 1AArdahan University, Vocational High School of Posof, Ardahan, Turkey 2Bartridge Partners, Umberleigh, Devon EX37 9AS, UK 3Ankara University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science, Ankara, Turkey. Abstract: The aim of this paper is to review traditional beekeeping in Turkey. Review Article Beekeeping is a rapidly developing part of agriculture, as it is worldwide. It provides a natural balance to the maintenance of agricultural production. Turkey has awide range of *Corresponding author climatic and natural features and possesses millions of bee (Apis mellifera anatoliaca) Orhan Yilmaz colonies with a high genetic diversity. The wide range of climate environment is a great potential for bee keeping and honey production. It is said that 75% of honey plant Article History species and varieties are in Turkey. In different regions there are plenty of honey plants Received: 02.10.2017 which flower at different times, allowing more production than usual for bee-keeping. Accepted: 13.10.2017 Turkey is currently a major country for bee-keeping for two reasons: first, bee colonies Published: 30.10.2017 have increased in number in recent years; secondly, modern bee hives have become greater in number. Methods of bee keeping are generally traditional, and there are a few DOI: professional and migratory bee keepers among the total.
    [Show full text]
  • 3Rd HELLENIC SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE in APICULTURE- SERICULTURE Thessaloniki 21-22 April 2007
    3rd HELLENIC SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE IN APICULTURE- SERICULTURE Thessaloniki 21-22 April 2007 HELLENIC SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY OF APICULTURE- SERICULTURE NUMBER OF DRONE CELLS IN THE NATURAL-BUILT HONEYCOMBS OF A. M. MACEDONICA Goras G., Dislis S., Konstas N., Thrasyvoulou A. Laboratory of Apiculture – Sericulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, . [email protected] Beekeeping as a biological agriculture requires the replacement of all of the honeycombs. Using frames with foundation comb provides uniformity with minimal structure of dronecells but biological wax is limited and it is not always free of residues. As a solution it could be proposed to “force” bees to build the frames without using foundation combs, but in this case, the number of dronecells would be higher. This number depends on the bee race but there in no paper that it refers to this characteristic for the indigenous of Greece. In this paper present the first data concerns the production of dronecells in beecolonies with and without foundation comb. The experimental group provided with frames with foundation comb, produced less drone cells (0,03% per bee colony) in relation to the second group, which built natural honeycombs and so produced more dronecells (20,6% per bee colony). These average numbers present significant differences and this is also occurs after the comparison of the number of worker cells that the two experimental groups produced. First group produced mainly worker cells (99,97% per colony), while the second group produced 79,3% worker cells per colony. Finally we can establish that in each experimental group there is a great variance among the colonies that concerns the number of dronecells, regardless of the use (CV% : 316,7%) or not (CV% : 67%) foundation combs.
    [Show full text]
  • The Diversity of Hornets in the Genus Vespa (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Vespinae), Their Importance
    Copyedited by: OUP Insect Systematics and Diversity, (2020) 4(3): 2; 1–27 doi: 10.1093/isd/ixaa006 Taxonomy Research The Diversity of Hornets in the Genus Vespa (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Vespinae), Their Importance and Interceptions in the United States Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/isd/article-abstract/4/3/2/5834678 by USDA/APHIS/NWRC user on 02 June 2020 Allan H. Smith-Pardo,1,4 James M. Carpenter,2 and Lynn Kimsey3 1USDA-APHIS-PPQ, Science and Technology (S&T), Sacramento, CA, 2Department of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, 3Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, and 4Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected] Subject Editor: Heather Hines Received 20 December, 2019; Editorial decision 11 March, 2020 Abstract Hornets in the genus Vespa (Vespidae, Vespinae) are social wasps. They are primarily predators of other in- sects, and some species are known to attack and feed on honeybees (Apis mellifera L.), which makes them a serious threat to apiculture. Hornet species identification can be sometimes difficult because of the amount of intraspecific color and size variation. This has resulted in many species-level synonyms, scattered literature, and taxonomic keys only useful for local populations. We present a key to the world species, information on each species, as well as those intercepted at United States Ports of Entry during the last decade. Images of all the species and some of the subspecies previously described are also included. Resumen Los avispones (Vespidae: Vespinae: Vespa) son avispas sociales, depredadoras de otros insectos y algunas de las especies muestran cierta preferencia por abejas, incluyendo las abejas melíferas (Apis mellifera L.) convirtiéndose en una amenaza para la apicultura.
    [Show full text]
  • Ciencia Ciudadana, Globalización Y Especies Invasoras. El Caso Del Avispón Oriental, Vespa Orientalis Linneus 1771 En Algeciras
    MEDIO AMBIENTE ALMORAIMA. REVISTA DE ESTUDIOS CAMPOGIBRALTAREÑOS. NÚMERO 52 Ciencia ciudadana, globalización y especies invasoras. El caso del avispón oriental, Vespa orientalis Linneus 1771 en Algeciras María del Carmen Fajardo/ Íñigo Sánchez RESUMEN El avispón oriental fue observado por primera vez en Algeciras en el otoño de 2018. Fue citado por primera vez para Andalucía en febrero de 2019. Hacemos referencia a las localizaciones que se han conocido en este período, así como a su distribución original, biología y posibles afecciones ecológicas y de salud pública. Consideramos que llegó al Puerto de Algeciras con el transporte de mercancías, probablemente con algún carga- mento de frutas. Palabras clave: Vespa orientalis, avispón, especie exótica, globalización, afección a las abejas melíferas. ABSTRACT The Oriental hornet was first observed in Algeciras in the autumn of 2018. It was first reported for Andalusia in February this year. We refer to the locations that have become known in this period, as well as to their original distribution, biology and possible ecological and public health effects. We consider that it arrived at the Port of Algeciras with the transport of freight, probably with some shipment of fruit. Keywords: Vespa orientalis, Hornet, exotic species, globaslization, effect on honey bees. 1. INTRODUCCIÓN (Delmotte & Leclerq, 1980), Reino Unido Los avispones pertenecen al género Vespa (Edwards, 1982), México (Dvorák, 2006) y Linneus, 1758. Son avispas de gran tamaño, Vespa España, en unos jardines de Valencia (Hernández orientalis mide entre 2,5 y 3,5 cm. et al., 2013), donde no lograron asentarse, En España el avispón autóctono es el europeo, probablemente por requerir de un clima Vespa crabro, algo mayor, de 3,5 a 4 cm, y se semiárido.
    [Show full text]
  • Oriental Hornet (Vespa Orientalis) As AFB Disease Vector to Honeybee (Apis Mellifera L.) Colonies
    Middle East Journal of Applied Volume : 06 | Issue :04 | Oct.-Dec.| 2016 Sciences Pages: 934-940 ISSN 2077-4613 Oriental Hornet (Vespa orientalis) as AFB Disease Vector to Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) Colonies Elhoseny, E. Nowar Plant protection Dept., Fac. of Agric., Benha Univ., Moshtohor, Toukh, Qalubia, 13736, Egypt. Received: 30 Oct. 2016 / Accepted: 05 December 2016 / Publication date: 10 December 2016 ABSTRACT The present study was carried out in the honey bee laboratory of Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, Egypt during two successive years 2014 and 2015 at the period from October to December to prove that the oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis L.) was considered as AFB disease vector to honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies. Firstly, the number of oriental wasps in two Egyptian governorates (Qalubia and Menofia) were surveyed, then these nests were checked for AFB disease infestation. Results indicated that the mean number of collected oriental wasp nests was 13.5 and 13.0 nests in 2014 and 2015, respectively. And from the collected nests, 66 and 53.4 % were infected and showed typically symptoms of AFB during 2014 and 2015, respectivelly. Additionally, the mean ratio of infected oriental wasp larvae with AFB was 16.7 and 21.7% in the years 2014 and 2015, respectively. The mean number of oriental wasp combs per nest was higher in 2014 with 4.3 comb/nest than 2015 with and 3.8 comb/nest. After that, four bacterial isolates were isolated from the infected larvae and identified as Paenibacillus larvae using the molecular techniques. Key words: Vespa orientalis, Apis mellifera, AFB Introduction The Oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis L.) is a social insect belongs to the Vespidae family, it is a member of genus Vespa which constitutes true hornets, their nests were build underground and consisting of caste system dominated by the queen, nests contain multiple combs in which the colony lives (Ebrahimi and Carpenter, 2012).
    [Show full text]
  • ) 2 2013;10( Life Science Journal 1207
    Life Science Journal 2013;10(2) http://www.lifesciencesite.com A Study on the Sensory Structure, in Relation to Some Behavioral Ecology of the Oriental Hornet (Vespa orientalis L.) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) Mohamed M. Khodairy1 and Azza A. Awad² 1Plant Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt 2Zoology & Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt [email protected]. Abstract: In the apiary of Assiut University, the oriental hornets, Vespa orientalis L., were trapped and collecting every three days by using modified wooden traps to know their fluctuation and population during their active season. Also, detect the differences on the morphology, ultra-structure, and behavior between the different casts (queen, daughter worker and male) of V. orientalis. In the present study, the fluctuation showed that hornet population began with a slight increase number during September which comprised about (12.3%). In October, a big jump occurred (52.5 %) in their number. By the first week of November, the number started to decrease (26.7%) and then disappeared at the second fortnight of November. Antenna plays an important and vital role during host finding and acceptance behavior in insect life. Like many insects, oriental hornet Vespa orientalis L., use antennal chemo- receptors to detect the hosts during its active seasons. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies showed five types of sensilla (Chaetica, trichoidea, basiconica, placodea and coeloconica) were distributed on the antenna of the three different casts of the hornet. These function of sensillae possibly as chemo-, and tactile receptors, responding to movements of the antennae. [Mohamed M. Khodairy and Azza A.
    [Show full text]
  • HUNTING BEHAVIOR of the ORIENTAL HORNET, Vespa Orientalis L., and DEFENSE BEHAVIOR of the HONEY BEE, Apis Mellifera L., in IRAQ
    M. K. Glaiim Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus. (2009)10(4): 17-30 HUNTING BEHAVIOR OF THE ORIENTAL HORNET, Vespa orientalis L., AND DEFENSE BEHAVIOR OF THE HONEY BEE, Apis mellifera L., IN IRAQ Murtadha K. Glaiim Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Kerbala University, Karbala, Iraq E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT When the guard honey bees, Apis mellifera L., form a clump at the hive entrance or on the flight board, the oriental hornet, Vespa orientails L., either creeps toward the clump or hovers over it in order to take a bee. Once the hornet creeps, only few bees facing the hornet become alert, rock their heads and antennae, open their wings, and take a posture of defense. The rest of the clump stays listless without any signal of concern. However, the clump stays dense and the defending bees do not detach themselves neither from the rest of the clump nor from each other. For this reason, it is very difficult for the hornet to grab a bee unless the latter makes a “mistake” by detaching herself from other adjacent bees. If the hornet grabs such a bee, the other defending bees will not attack the hornet to free that bee even when the latter is one centimeter from the others. The defending bees can capture the hornet only when the latter grabs one of them which stands very close to the others. The hornet seems very “aware” of such a situation; hence she seldom becomes a captive. On the other hand, hovering over the clump makes it easier for the hornet to grab a bee.
    [Show full text]
  • Biophysical Properties of Yellow Pigment Granules in the Oriental Hornet (Vespa Orientalis) Cuticle
    Biophysical properties of yellow pigment granules in the Oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis) cuticle By Marian Plotkin Tel-Aviv University, Sackler Faculty of Medicine Department of Physiology Digging activity Correlation between insolation and hornet flight activity Model of a cuticle segment of a yellow stripe Yellow colored cuticle Brown colored cuticle Yellow pigment granules structure Absorption of brown cuticle Absorption of yellow cuticle Exo- Yellow Endocuticle Pigment Layer Granules Reflectance of hornet cuticle liver functions in the Oriental hornet Xanthopterin identified in the pigment granules Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) model Exo-endocuticle Transparent Electrode & Antireflective coating - Light absorbing pigment in Photochemical? barrel shape housing that increase the effective I3- 3I- surface area available for Hemolymph? absorption + Voltage buildup across a yellow Stripe Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) Dye = Xanthoptherin 0.335% < ~11% Discussion 1) The oriental hornet brown/yellow pattern serves the obvious purpose of warning other animals that the hornets are venomous. 2) The yellow stripes protect the hornet from the harmful solar radiation similar to the role of melanin in the brown cuticle. 3) The Oriental hornet cuticle bears yellow-colored stripes composed of yellow granules. The yellow granule contains xanthopterin. This array of yellow granules maximizes the ability of the extensively conjugated xanthopterin to absorb a wide range of visible light extending up to UV light. 4) The hornets leave the silk cap 3 days prior to its full maturation. The ontogenesis from ovum to pupa requires about 25–30 days. So this would mean that the reproductive rate of the nest can be increased by 10% or more if the hornets leave the silk cap 3 days prior to its full maturation (since the empty cell can be oviposited again more quickly).
    [Show full text]