POPULATION DYNAMICS OF ORIENTAL HORNET (Vespa orientalis L.) DURING ITS ACTIVITYSEASON IN THE APIARY THROUGHOUT THE DAY PERIODS

The current experiment was carried out in the Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Shoubra El-Kheima, Qualubia governorate, during the oriental hornet active season extended from September 1st until end of December, 2015, to estimate the daily counts of the oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis L.) as well as its population dynamics during its active season. The experimental apiary was contained twenty four honeybee colonies, each contented seven frames covered with adult bees and four frames of brood. The wasp’s traps were used for capturing the wasps during the day. The data indicated that, the total numbers of wasps caught in September were 204, 394 and 114 wasps/trap in the three periods, respectively. There were significant differences between all the tested periods where the highest population of wasps caught was during the noon period (12pm – 3pm) followed by the morning period (9am – 12pm), while the afternoon and evening period (3pm – 9am of next day) recorded the lowest population of wasps caught in the traps, the same trend was recorded in October and November months. It also summarized that, the average means of wasps captured for tested months were 8.79, 21.99, 13.42 and 1.10 wasps/trap for September, October, November and December 2015, respectively. The highest population of oriental hornet captured by the traps was recorded during October month, followed by November and September; meanwhile the population captured during December was the lowest, with significant deference between them. For daily count, the mean average numbers of wasps captured by the traps were 10.20, 17.55 and 6.22 wasps/trap for the three periods (9am – 12pm, 12pm – 3pm and 3pm – 9am of next day), respectively. The highest numbers of wasps captured by the traps were recorded during the noon period (12pm – 3pm) followed by morning period (9am – 12pm), meanwhile the afternoon and evening period (3pm – 9am of next day) recorded the lowest numbers of wasps captured by the traps, with significant deference between all the tested period. Overall the highest numbers of oriental hornet captured by wasp’s traps were recorded in October month during the noon period, 12pm – 3pm and averaged (33.15 wasps/trap), followed by November month during the same period 12pm – 3pm (20.50 wasps/trap).