scholarly journals Geographic potential of the world’s largest hornet, Vespa mandarinia Smith (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), worldwide and particularly in North America

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e10690
Author(s):  
Claudia Nuñez-Penichet ◽  
Luis Osorio-Olvera ◽  
Victor H. Gonzalez ◽  
Marlon E. Cobos ◽  
Laura Jiménez ◽  
...  

The Asian giant hornet (AGH, Vespa mandarinia) is the world’s largest hornet, occurring naturally in the Indomalayan region, where it is a voracious predator of pollinating insects including honey bees. In September 2019, a nest of Asian giant hornets was detected outside of Vancouver, British Columbia; multiple individuals were detected in British Columbia and Washington state in 2020; and another nest was found and eradicated in Washington state in November 2020, indicating that the AGH may have successfully wintered in North America. Because hornets tend to spread rapidly and become pests, reliable estimates of the potential invasive range of V. mandarinia in North America are needed to assess likely human and economic impacts, and to guide future eradication attempts. Here, we assess climatic suitability for AGH in North America, and suggest that, without control, this species could establish populations across the Pacific Northwest and much of eastern North America. Predicted suitable areas for AGH in North America overlap broadly with areas where honey production is highest, as well as with species-rich areas for native bumble bees and stingless bees of the genus Melipona in Mexico, highlighting the economic and environmental necessity of controlling this nascent invasion.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Nuñez-Penichet ◽  
Luis Osorio-Olvera ◽  
Victor H. Gonzalez ◽  
Marlon E. Cobos ◽  
Laura Jiménez ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe Asian giant hornet (AGH, Vespa mandarinia) is the world’s largest hornet, occurring naturally in the Indomalayan region, where it is a voracious predator of pollinating insects including honey bees. In September 2019, a nest of Asian giant hornets was detected outside of Vancouver, British Columbia and in May 2020 an individual was detected nearby in Washington state, indicating that the AGH successfully overwintered in North America. Because hornets tend to spread rapidly and become pests, reliable estimates of the potential invasive range of V. mandarinia in North America are needed to assess likely human and economic impacts, and to guide future eradication attempts. Here, we assess climatic suitability for AGH in North America, and suggest that, without control, this species could establish populations across the Pacific Northwest and much of eastern North America. Predicted suitable areas for AGH in North America overlap broadly with areas where honey production is highest, as well as with species-rich areas for native bumble bees and stingless bees of the genus Melipona in Mexico, highlighting the economic and environmental necessity of controlling this nascent invasion.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Schmidt ◽  
Alexandre Anctil

The geometrid moth Hemithea aestivaria (Hübner, 1789) was introduced from Europe to North America, first detected in British Columbia in 1973. Until 2019, its North American range was limited to a restricted area of the Pacific Northwest. Here, we report on the first records of H. aestivaria for eastern North America from three widely separated urban centers in eastern Canada during 2019-2020.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Schmidt ◽  
Alexandre Anctil

The geometrid moth Hemithea aestivaria (Hübner, 1789) was introduced from Europe to North America, first being detected in British Columbia in 1973. Until 2019, its North American range was limited to a restricted area of the Pacific Northwest. Here, we report on the first records of H. aestivaria for eastern North America from three widely separated urban centres in eastern Canada during 2019-2020.


Zootaxa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 1532 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
WILLIAM A. SHEAR ◽  
JEAN K. KREJCA

The milliped genus Amplaria Chamberlin 1941 was synonymized with Striaria Bollman 1888 by Hoffman (1980). Examination of a much wider range of materials of nominal Striaria species both from eastern North America and the Pacific coastal states shows that some species occurring from California to Washington (state) represent a distinct phyletic line, for which Amplaria Chamberlin 1941 is the oldest available generic name. Speostriaria Causey 1960 is a synonym of Amplaria. Amplaria muiri n. sp. and A. adamsi n. sp. are two new, recently discovered species from caves in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, California. Illustrations are provided of a specimen that may represent the type species, Amplaria eutypa (Chamberlin) 1953.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 823-828
Author(s):  
Alex N Neidermeier ◽  
Darrell W Ross ◽  
Nathan P Havill ◽  
Kimberly F Wallin

Abstract Two species of silver fly, Leucopis argenticollis (Zetterstedt) and Leucopis piniperda (Malloch) (Diptera: Chamaemyiidae), from the Pacific Northwest region of North America have been identified as potential biological control agents of hemlock woolly adelgid (Hemiptera: Adelgidae: Adelges tsugae Annand) in eastern North America. The two predators are collectively synchronized with A. tsugae development. To determine whether adult emergence of the two species of silver fly are also synchronized with one another, we collected adult Leucopis which emerged from A. tsugae-infested western hemlock [Pinaceae: Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.] from four sites in the Pacific Northwest over a 29-d period. Specimens were collected twice daily in the laboratory and identified to species using DNA barcoding. The study found that more adult Leucopis were collected in the evening than the morning. Additionally, the daily emergences of adults over the 29-d sampling period exhibited sinusoidal-like fluctuations of peak abundance of each species, lending evidence to a pattern of temporal partitioning. This pattern could have logistical implications for their use as biological control agents in eastern North America, namely the need to release both species for maximum efficacy in decreasing A. tsugae populations.


Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2802 (1) ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
KEITH S. PIKE ◽  
PETR STARÝ ◽  
GEORGE GRAF ◽  
DAVID A. RAWORTH ◽  
SNEH MATHUR ◽  
...  

Aphidius ericaphidis Pike & Starý, sp. nov., is described and illustrated. This aphidiine is a parasitoid of the blueberry aphid, Ericaphis fimbriata (Richards), widely found associated with the commercial highbush blueberries, Vaccinium corymbosum L., in southwestern British Columbia, Washington, and in northeastern Oregon. It is one of several species of aphidiines known to attack E. fimbriata in North America. A key is provided to distinguish it from other parasitoid species of E. fimbriata.


mSphere ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey M. Lorch ◽  
Jonathan M. Palmer ◽  
Daniel L. Lindner ◽  
Anne E. Ballmann ◽  
Kyle G. George ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT White-nose syndrome (WNS) represents one of the most consequential wildlife diseases of modern times. Since it was first documented in New York in 2006, the disease has killed millions of bats and threatens several formerly abundant species with extirpation or extinction. The spread of WNS in eastern North America has been relatively gradual, inducing optimism that disease mitigation strategies could be established in time to conserve bats susceptible to WNS in western North America. The recent detection of the fungus that causes WNS in the Pacific Northwest, far from its previous known distribution, increases the urgency for understanding the long-term impacts of this disease and for developing strategies to conserve imperiled bat species. White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emerging fungal disease of bats caused by Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Since it was first detected near Albany, NY, in 2006, the fungus has spread across eastern North America, killing unprecedented numbers of hibernating bats. The devastating impacts of WNS on Nearctic bat species are attributed to the likely introduction of P. destructans from Eurasia to naive host populations in eastern North America. Since 2006, the disease has spread in a gradual wavelike pattern consistent with introduction of the pathogen at a single location. Here, we describe the first detection of P. destructans in western North America in a little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) from near Seattle, WA, far from the previously recognized geographic distribution of the fungus. Whole-genome sequencing and phylogenetic analyses indicated that the isolate of P. destructans from Washington grouped with other isolates of a presumed clonal lineage from the eastern United States. Thus, the occurrence of P. destructans in Washington does not likely represent a novel introduction of the fungus from Eurasia, and the lack of intensive surveillance in the western United States makes it difficult to interpret whether the occurrence of P. destructans in the Pacific Northwest is disjunct from that in eastern North America. Although there is uncertainty surrounding the impacts of WNS in the Pacific Northwest, the presence of the pathogen in western North America could have major consequences for bat conservation. IMPORTANCE White-nose syndrome (WNS) represents one of the most consequential wildlife diseases of modern times. Since it was first documented in New York in 2006, the disease has killed millions of bats and threatens several formerly abundant species with extirpation or extinction. The spread of WNS in eastern North America has been relatively gradual, inducing optimism that disease mitigation strategies could be established in time to conserve bats susceptible to WNS in western North America. The recent detection of the fungus that causes WNS in the Pacific Northwest, far from its previous known distribution, increases the urgency for understanding the long-term impacts of this disease and for developing strategies to conserve imperiled bat species.


2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (10) ◽  
pp. 1078-1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
George E Mustoe

Middle Eocene lacustrine deposits in south-central British Columbia and north-central Washington state preserve two types of Ginkgo leaves. A morphotype characterized by deeply divided multiple lobes is herein described as Ginkgo dissecta sp.nov. Leaves that are either undivided or shallowly divided into bilobate symmetry are indistinguishable from foliage of extant Ginkgo biloba Linnaeus. These fossils contradict the widely held belief that only a single Ginkgo species, Ginkgo adiantoides (Unger) Heer, inhabited Cenozoic forests.Key words: British Columbia, Eocene, fossil, Ginkgo adiantoides, Ginkgo biloba, Ginkgo dissecta, McAbee, Republic, Tertiary, Washington.


1982 ◽  
Vol 114 (S119) ◽  
pp. 5-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Campbell

AbstractThe species of the genus Lordithon Thomson (Staphylinidae: Tachyporinae) of North and Central America are revised. Thirty-seven species are recognized. Sixteen new species are described: scutellaris, appalachianus and notabilis from eastern North America; difficilis and oregonus from the Pacific Northwest; fungicola transcontinental in North America; and nubicola, dubius, newtoni, howdeni, ashei, hidalgoensis, antennatus, consors, blandus, and oreophilus from Mexico. The following species names are placed in synonymy: cascadensis hatchi Malkin (= cascadensis Malkin); cincticollis Say (= thoracicus thoracicus Fabricius); occiduus Casey (= thoracicus thoracicus Fabricius); alticola Sharp (= obliquus Sharp); kelleyi Malkin (= bimaculatus Couper) and elefas Bernhauer (= longiceps LeConte). L. venustus Melsheimer is reduced to a subspecies of thoracicus Fabricius. The species festivus Sharp, obliquus Sharp, smithi Bernhauer, and mexicanus Bernhauer are transferred to Lordithon from the genus Bolitobius. Lordithon lunulatus is doubtfully recorded from North America for the first time.The usage of the generic group names Lordithon Thomson, Bolitobius Samouelle, Megacronus Stephens, Bryocharis Boisduval and Lacordaire, Carphacis des Gozis, and Bolitobus Tottenham is discussed. The genus Lordithon is divided into two subgenera, Lordithon Thomson and Bolitobus Tottenham (not Bolitobius Samouelle). The male aedeagus and other major diagnostic characters are illustrated and the distribution of each species mapped.The species rubescens Hatch, varions Hatch, fenderi Hatch and biseriatus Mannerheim are transferred from Lordithon to the genus Bryoporus Kraatz.Lectotypes are designated for the following species: niger Gravenhorst, axillaris Gravenhorst, festivus Sharp, anticus Horn, poecilus Mannerheim, facilis Casey, arizonensis Bernhauer, obliquus Sharp, alticola Sharp, smithi Bernhauer, mexicanus Bernhauer, cinctus Gravenhorst, gentilis LeConte, elefas Bernhauer and rostratus LeConte. Neotypes were designated for: angularis Sachse, trimaculatus Say, cincticollis Say, obsoletus Say and atricaudatus Say.


2006 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda M. Wilson ◽  
Judith Fehrer ◽  
Siegfried Bräutigam ◽  
Gitta Grosskopf

During the summer of 2001, a newly recorded species of exotic hawkweed ( Hieracium glomeratum Froel.) for North America was identified from specimens collected in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and eastern Washington state, United States. The specimens had previously been identified as the closely related Hieracium caespitosum Dumort. DNA fingerprints of plants from different localities proved to be identical. Their clonality, along with a spot-like distribution, indicates that this apomictic species probably originated from a single introduction from Europe, which subsequently spread. This species adds to the complex of 14 other exotic Hieracium species belonging to the Eurasian subgenus Pilosella that are adventive in the United States and Canada. A distribution map of the native and adventive range of H. glomeratum, and a key to distinguish it from related species in subgenus Pilosella that occur in North America are provided. The evolutionary and invasive potential of H. glomeratum is also discussed.


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