Abstract
Vespa orientalis F. (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), a major pest of apiculture, indirectly disrupts pollination of fruit and vegetable crops, and constitutes a public health menace. Control methods are imperfect, labor-intensive, and entail the use of medically and environmentally dangerous chemicals. A parasitic wasp,Sphecophaga vesparum Curtis (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), has been found to attack a large proportion (up to 100%) of observedV. orientalis nests in southern Israel. Within these nests, 2.5–95.1% of host cells were parasitized by three to seven individuals. Heavily parasitized nests showed considerable reductions in the proportion of queen cells.
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Havron, A., Margalith, Y. Parasitization ofVespa orientalis nests bySphecophaga vesparum curtis in Southern Israel (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Ichneumonidae). Phytoparasitica 23, 19–25 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02980392
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02980392