A hornet species seen across Southeast Asia was found to have settled in Taiwan, raising the number of hornet species in the nation to nine, while the impact of the introduced species on the environment is yet to be evaluated, the Forestry Bureau said last week.
According to a research team, the black shield wasp, or Vespa bicolor, has set up colonies in Taiwan, bureau researcher Lu Sheng-shan (陸聲山) said.
“The black shield wasp is widely distributed across China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India and Nepal, but the insect had not been found in Taiwan for more than a century, since the Japanese colonial period when insect collection works began. Observation has confirmed that black shield wasps attack honeybees at bee farms, and they might sting human and animals,” Lu said.
Like most wasps, the black shield wasp is a predator and pollinator, and it preys on flies, plant lice and locusts, making it an important player in pest control, but it also hunts bees and poses a threat to the beekeeping industry, he said.
The bureau caught several black shield wasps at bee farms in Taichung’s Shengang District (神岡) in 2003, but it could not prove the species had successfully established colonies in Taiwan, because no hives or male wasps were found, he said.
National Chiayi University professor Sung I-hsin (宋一鑫) discovered black shield wasp hives at Miaoli County’s Sanyi (三義) and Tongluo (銅鑼) townships in 2011, suggesting the species had gained a foothold in Taiwan.
Black shield wasps have a limited distribution in Taichung and Miaoli County, and the species might have been introduced to Taiwan accidentally, Lu said.
“Wasps cease activities almost completely in winter, so a queen wasp hidden inside a log or a cargo container might have been transported to another place and established a colony there,” he said.
The black shield wasp population was found to have spread to Hsinchu County, so the researchers set up traps in the county last year to monitor population and distribution, while it is necessary to establish traps across the nation to study the invasive species’ impact on the environment, Lu said.
Invasive species pose a great threat to local ecological balance and the public is advised to report suspected sightings of black shield wasps to the bureau, he said.
However, the threat from the black shield wasp is small compared with the Asian giant hornet, which is the most destructive wasp species to the beekeeping industry among Taiwan’s seven bee-hunting wasp species, and bee farmers must stay alert against Asian giant hornets, Lu said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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