Pusceddu Michelina, Lezzeri Matteo, Cocco Arturo, Floris Ignazio, Satta Alberto
Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale Italia 39, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
Biology (Basel). 2022 Mar 28;11(4):518. doi: 10.3390/biology11040518.
, also known as European hornet, is a eusocial Vespidae originally from Eurasia that was accidentally introduced on the island of Sardinia (Italy) in 2010. Currently, its distribution is limited to the northern area of the island. Considering that a non-harmful species in its native region can exhibit invasive behaviour when established in new environments, bio-ethological observations were conducted to better understand whether could show invasive traits in Sardinia, which represents a new introduction area. Data on the foraging activity of the European hornet in open fields were collected within a citizen science monitoring program carried out in Sardinia from 2018 to 2020. Moreover, specific behavioural observations were made in apiaries to assess the predatory activity of the hornet towards honey bees and at the entrance of free-living European hornet colonies to evaluate other aspects of its behaviour, i.e., intranidal and extranidal tasks. The results of our study are discussed in relation to the behavioural traits known for this species in its native areas to place the behavioural repertoire of in Sardinia into a wider context. Our observations revealed that did not show any changes in behavioural traits in Sardinia compared to those described in its area of origin, so the risk of becoming an invasive species on this island seems unlikely.
[物种名称]，也被称为欧洲大黄蜂，是一种原产于欧亚大陆的群居胡蜂科昆虫，于2010年意外引入意大利撒丁岛。目前，其分布仅限于该岛北部地区。鉴于一个在其原生区域无害的物种在新环境中定居时可能表现出入侵行为，因此进行了生物行为学观察，以更好地了解[物种名称]在代表新引入区域的撒丁岛是否会表现出入侵特征。2018年至2020年在撒丁岛开展的一项公民科学监测项目中收集了欧洲大黄蜂在开阔地带觅食活动的数据。此外，还在养蜂场进行了特定的行为观察，以评估大黄蜂对蜜蜂的捕食活动，并在自由生活的欧洲大黄蜂巢穴入口处进行观察，以评估其行为的其他方面，即巢内和巢外任务。我们结合该物种在其原生区域已知的行为特征来讨论我们的研究结果，以便将撒丁岛[物种名称]的行为表现置于更广泛的背景中。我们的观察结果显示，与在其起源地所描述的行为特征相比，[物种名称]在撒丁岛并未表现出行为特征上的任何变化，因此在该岛成为入侵物种的风险似乎不大。
