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Avispa Gigante Asiática (Vespa Mandarinia Smith, 1852)

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Avispa Gigante Asiática (Vespa Mandarinia Smith, 1852) Guía técnica Avispa Gigante Asiática (Vespa mandarinia Smith, 1852) Japanese giant hornet, Vespa mandarinia japonica. (Credit: Yasunori Koide via Wikipedia) Introducción La Vespa mandarinia Smith (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), o comúnmente llamado avispón gigante asiático, es el avispón más grande del mundo, nativo de Asia. Además, es una plaga de Apis mellifera L., la abeja melífera europea, que causa pérdidas a los apicultores en su área de distribución nativa. Vespa mandarinia es un insecto social, con una gran colonia que contiene una reina y muchas obreras. A pesar de que las obreras superan en número a las reinas, solo las reinas pueden dispersarse, por lo que el control debe centrarse en eliminar reinas y nidos. El avispón anida bajo tierra, y ubicar nidos es desafiante y requiere mucho trabajo. En septiembre de 2019, se eliminó un nido de Vespa mandarinia en Nanaimo, isla de Vancouver, Columbia Británica, en Canadá (Ministerio de Agricultura, 2019); posteriormente, en diciembre de 2019, el Departamento de Agricultura del Estado de Washington (WSDA), identificó un (1) espécimen muerto en Blaine, Washington, una zona fronteriza con Canadá, y los Servicios de Identificación Nacional (NIS) confirmaron dicha identificación (Equipo de respuesta de AGH, 2020). Estas han sido las primeras detecciones de V. mandarinia en América del Norte. Nombres comunes: Español: Avispón gigante asiático, avispa gigante Inglés: Asian giant hornet, Japanese giant hornet, Yak-killer hornet, Suzumebachi (sparrow wasp). (CAB International, 2020; USDA, 2020). Taxonomía: Dominio: Eukarya Reino: Animalia Filo: Arthropoda Subfilo: Hexapoda Clase: Insecta Orden: Hymenoptera Superfamilia: Vespoidea Familia: Vespidae Subfamilia: Vespinae Género: Vespa Especie: Vespa mandarinia Smith, 1852 (Woese et al. 1990; NCBI, 2020) Vespa mandarinia Smith, 1852 2 Características básicas de identificación: Tamaño: 1.5 - 2 pulgadas de largo (3.5 cm a 5 cm). Reina: puede superar los 5 cm, con una envergadura que puede superar los 7,6 cm. Obreras y machos: más pequeños que las reinas (3.5 a 3.9 cm de longitud corporal). Las reinas y las obreras solo difieren en tamaño. Morfología: reinas y obreras tienen anatomía reproductiva, aunque las obreras no se reproducen. Los machos de esta especie son morfológicamente similares a las hembras, pero carecen del aguijón. La coloración es la misma entre sexos. Abdomen con bandas de color café oscuro y negro, que se alternan con bandas que tienen un tono naranja-amarillo similar al de la cabeza. El sexto segmento es completamente amarillo. • Cabeza grande de color naranja / amarillo con ojos prominentes. Sus antenas son típicamente de un tono marrón Figura 1. Morfología de V. mandarinia. medio u oscuro, con escamas amarillo-naranja. (Barth et al., 2013). • Ojos compuestos que van del café oscuro al negro. También tiene tres ojos simples. • La mandíbula es relativamente grande y tiene un tono anaranjado intenso, con un diente negro que se puede usar para excavar. • Sus dos conjuntos de alas son típicamente grises y se extienden lejos del cuerpo. Figura 2. Vista frontal de V. mandarinia. Vespa mandarinia Smith, 1852 3 • Sus patas delanteras son más brillantes con tarsos oscuros, mientras que las patas medias y traseras son de color café oscuro. • Forma grandes colonias que generalmente anidan en el suelo, utilizan cavidades que han dejado otros insectos o la descomposición de materia orgánica. (USDA, 2020). Figura 3. Nido de V. mandarinia. https://matome.naver.jp/odai/2144331816294737601/2144332940203536903 Vespa mandarinia Smith, 1852 4 Distribución geográfica La Vespa mandarinia es originarias de Asia, se encuentra en el este y sureste de este continente, al norte de los trópicos. Es más común en Japón y Korea, donde ha sido bien estudiado (Abe et al., 1982; Matsuura y Sakagami, 1973). Se tienen registros en China, India, Bután, Japón, Corea, Laos, Malasia, Myanmar, Nepal, Rusia, Taiwán y Tailandia (figura 4, GBIf, 2020; USDA, 2020). Figura 4. GBIf/Global Biodiversity Information facility. USDA, 2020. Biología y ecología Hábitat Vespa mandarinia tiende a vivir en montañas bajas o en áreas boscosas. Notablemente ausente en llanuras y en elevaciones más altas. La especie crea nidos subterráneos cavando, ocupando cavidades excavadas por pequeños roedores, o encontrando espacios adecuados cerca de raíces de pino podridas. La profundidad de sus nidos oscila entre 6 y 60 cm (Matsuura y Sakagami, 1973). Los avispones también construyen nidos en huecos en troncos o raíces de árboles muertos, pero estos generalmente no son más de uno o dos metros sobre la superficie del suelo (Maeta et al., 1998; Yanagawa et al., 2007). Los nidos aéreos son raros. Los nidos consisten en celdas, cámaras entrelazadas para el desarrollo larval, y se construyen a partir de trozos masticados de fibras de madera cosechada de árboles vivos o madera en descomposición. Vespa mandarinia Smith, 1852 5 Los nidos típicamente carecen de envoltura. Durante las primeras etapas de formación tienen forma de un tazón invertido. A medida que el nido crece se añaden de una a tres capas de celdillas o panales. Un sistema de un pilar principal y pilares secundarios conectan los panales. Pueden llegar a tener de cuatro a siete panales. El superior es abandonado al final del verano y se lo deja podrir. El más grande está al medio. El más grande observado medía 49,5 cm por 45,5 cm con 1192 celdillas. Ciclo de vida Vespa mandarinia son avispones sociales, con un ciclo de vida anual. Las hembras adultas se dividen en dos castas: reinas que son responsables de fundar una colonia y poner huevos y las obreras que son estériles responsables de recolectar alimentos y criar a las larvas. Una reina solitaria comenzará un nido, luego criará una colonia de trabajadoras que se hacen cargo del forrajeo y muchos deberes de nido (USDA, 2020). El ciclo de vida fue documentado por Matsuura y Sakagami (1973) y Matsuura (1988) en Japón, de donde fue tomado por USDA (2020) y se trascribe en el presente documento. El ciclo biológico no se ha observado y documentado en regiones tropicales o subtropicales. Japón es un país con influencia templada, por lo tanto, los tiempos que se muestran en la figura 3 corresponden a lo que sucede este país, aunque se estima que la duración de cada etapa biológica puede variar, la secuencia de eventos dentro del ciclo de la colonia se mantiene igual. Primavera. La reina emerge de pasar del invierno a la primavera y entra en una breve etapa previa a la anidación en la que se alimenta, desarrolla sus ovarios y busca un sitio de anidación adecuado para iniciar la colonia (Matsuura, 1988). Figura 5. Ciclo biológico de Vespa mandarinia. Las líneas verticales en el ciclo de la colonia muestran las fechas de observación primera (más a la izquierda) y última (más a la derecha), con la duración de etapas intermedias. Información basada en datos recopilados en Japón y presentados por Makoto Matsuura (Matsuura, 1988; Matsuura y Sakagami, 1973). * Los nuevos informes se basan en observaciones en América del Norte y los números se refieren a Códigos establecidos por el AGH Response Team, 2020 (Tomado de USDA, 2020). Vespa mandarinia Smith, 1852 6 Verano. Al seleccionar un sitio adecuado, la reina entra en una fase solitaria en la que ella sola es responsable de construir un nido, buscar comida, poner huevos y cuidar a las larvas. Hay una breve fase cooperativa en la que algunas de sus hijas obreras han madurado y asumido todos los deberes excepto poner huevos. Cuando hay alrededor de 40 obreras en el nido, la colonia entra en la fase conocida como “polietética” en la cual la reina se convierte completamente en ovipositora y las obreras asumen todos los deberes fuera del nido (en Matsuura y Sakagami, 1973). Otoño. Cuando hay muchas obreras, la colonia comienza a producir reproductores: machos y reinas del próximo año (Matsuura y Sakagami, 1973). Las obreras alimentan a los nuevos reproductores dentro del nido dado que no pueden alimentarse por sí mismos (Matsuura, 1988). Los machos se desarrollan y abandonan el nido antes que las hembras (en Japón, esto ocurre a principios de octubre) y se posarán en la entrada de los nidos esperando el surgimiento de nuevas reinas lo que ocurre aproximadamente un mes después (Matsuura y Sakagami, 1973). El apareamiento tiene lugar en la entrada del nido, a menudo con muchos machos emboscando cada uno a una nueva reina a medida que esta emerge (Matsuura, 1988). Los machos permanecerán vivos y móviles durante unas cuantas semanas después de dejar su nido natal, y se alimentarán del néctar de las flores, savia de árboles y algunos hongos para mantener su energía (Matsuura, 1988). Las nuevas reinas deben aparearse antes de pasar el invierno, ya que los machos no estarán presentes cuando emerjan en la primavera siguiente. Invierno. Después del apareamiento, una nueva reina pasará los meses más fríos en estado de hibernación en el refugio que construyó excavando en el suelo, utilizando troncos con madera podrida o montones de paja hasta que el ciclo comience nuevamente en la primavera siguiente (Archer, 1995; Matsuura, 1988; Matsuura y Sakagami, 1973). Desarrollo El avispón gigante asiático emerge de su huevo como una larva suave, blanca y sin extremidades. La larva tiene una cabeza amarilla que está cubierta de quitina. El cuerpo tiene tres segmentos torácicos y diez abdominales que no tienen constricciones entre ellos. Las larvas se alimentan de una pasta que consiste en presas masticadas por las obreras o la reina. Las larvas eventualmente crecen lo suficientemente grandes como para entrar en la etapa pupal y experimentar una metamorfosis completa. Después de la metamorfosis, emergen como adultos. Las obreras requieren alrededor de 40 días para crecer de huevo a adulto. Las reinas y los machos se desarrollan más tarde en la temporada, y los machos maduran más rápido que las reinas (Ross y Matthews, 1991; Yamane, 1976).
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