A preliminary study on the biology of wasps Vespavelutina auraria Smith and Vespatropica ducalis Smith (Hymenoptera:Vespidae)

The present paper deals with the biology of wasps Vespa velutina auraria Smith,V.tropica ducalis Smith.In Kunming they could have three generations a year and overwinters in the holes of trees and soil.These Wasps complete their life cycle in laboratory at 14-15℃,the relative humidity at 43-89% between 33-53 days,in which the egg stage 9-15 days,the larval stage 10-18 days,and pupal stage 15-20 days.The longivity of workers is 24-142 days,and 4-60 days for males.The queens emerge in March and nest-building in April-May.They only do two times of nest-building in their life cycles,first,is bencath soil surface,usually in abandoned rodent burrow,second,on the tree,but for somes,their life-cycles and all within the soil.Nests are typically built in the spring by a single female.The first offspring are all workers,mating of the new queen with the males in October-November,and then the inseminated queens hibernate in the last ten-days of November.The Wasps could build their nests under the control of artificial conditions.Their important natural enemies are the parasites,Stylopidae and Tachinidae.