Mating behavior of Vespula germanica (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in an invaded area: Implications for pest management.

MASCIOCCHI MAITÉ; MARTINEZ ANDRES S.; VILLACIDE JOSÉ; CORLEY JUAN C.

Guarujá

Congreso; International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI2018); 2018

IUSSI

Biological invasions are considered a serious environmental problem that can cause in many cases, significant impacts on the receiving community. Understanding the factors that promote success of invasive species, is important for their management. The dispersal capabilities of invading individuals, in addition to their mating behavior can, in many cases, contribute to the dynamics of the invasion process. Mating system parameters can have strong ecological and evolutionary implications affecting the invasion capacity of a given population. In order to increase the probabilities of reproduction, social insects can adopt different mate-finding strategies, which can be as varied as increased densities of males at specific locations and the production of visual and chemical cues that promote the attraction of the opposite sex. In this context, we investigated some of the strategies used by the invasive social wasp Vespula germanica in Patagonia, Argentina. Through tethered flight bioassays, we found that reproductive castes display contrasting flight patterns, suggesting the way in which related individuals distribute spatially during the mating period. Additionally, through field trials and laboratory bioassays we found that gynes emit chemical airborne and visual cues that attract drones. We conclude that in addition to certain aspects of the social biology of the species, an efficient mate-locating strategy could partly explain the invasion success of the species. The information presented here, could be used as a base to develop tools to mitigate the damage caused by yellowjackets by focusing on reproductive castes, in addition to the existing ones focuses on workers.