Yamasaki Kazuhisa, Takahashi Ryoichi, Harada Reona, Matsuo Yuya, Nakamura Masao, Takahashi Jun-Ichi
Institute for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Services, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Nishitokyo, Japan.
Faculty of Life Sciences, Kyoto Sangyo University, Kamigamo, Motoyama, Kita-ku, Kyoto, Japan.
Naturwissenschaften. 2019 Apr 13;106(5-6):15. doi: 10.1007/s00114-019-1609-x.
The yellow-legged hornet Vespa velutina has become one of the major alien species in European and East Asian countries. As in its homeland, the invading V. velutina is reported as the major predator of honeybees and is becoming a threat to beekeeping in Europe. However, it remains unknown how V. velutina might affect native hornets when it invades Asia, where a large number of Vespa species are distributed. Thus, by analyzing the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene, we investigated whether interspecific mating occurs between V. velutina and Japanese native Vespa spp. Our results showed that the alien V. velutina causes reproductive interference in Japanese native hornet Vespa simillima. Forty-three percent of native V. simillima queens had the sperm of V. velutina males, and among the all V. simillima queens analyzed, 28% only had V. velutina sperm. We did not find evidence of V. velutina queens having the sperm of V. simillima males. These findings suggest that reproductive interference by V. velutina males poses a threat to the native V. simillima populations. A decline of V. simillima may also negatively affect other insects that interact with V. simillima.
黄腿胡蜂（Vespa velutina）已成为欧洲和东亚国家的主要外来物种之一。与在其原生地一样，入侵的黄腿胡蜂被报道为蜜蜂的主要捕食者，并对欧洲的养蜂业构成威胁。然而，当黄腿胡蜂入侵亚洲时，它如何影响本土胡蜂仍不清楚，亚洲分布着大量的胡蜂物种。因此，通过分析线粒体细胞色素c氧化酶亚基I基因，我们研究了黄腿胡蜂与日本本土胡蜂物种之间是否发生种间交配。我们的结果表明，外来的黄腿胡蜂对日本本土胡蜂Vespa simillima造成了生殖干扰。43%的本土Vespa simillima蜂后有黄腿胡蜂雄蜂的精子，在所有分析的Vespa simillima蜂后中，28%只有黄腿胡蜂的精子。我们没有发现黄腿胡蜂蜂后有Vespa simillima雄蜂精子的证据。这些发现表明，黄腿胡蜂雄蜂的生殖干扰对本土的Vespa simillima种群构成了威胁。Vespa simillima的减少也可能对与Vespa simillima相互作用的其他昆虫产生负面影响。
