Table 1.
Descriptions of hornet aggression behaviors observed and their corresponding scores.
Fig 1.
Aggressive behavior between an invasive alien hornet, Vespa velutina, and five native Korean hornet species (Vespa simillima, Vespa mandarinia, Vespa analis, Vespa crabro, and Vespa dybowskii).
A: biting, V. velutina bites V. simillima using its mandibles, B: lifting antennae and shaking wings, V. mandarinia threatens V. velutina by raising its antenna and shaking its wings as V. velutina approaches, C: killing, V. mandarinia hunts V. velutina, D: forcing down and throwing, V. analis throws V. velutina, E: banging or pushing with head, V. crabro pushes V. velutina with its head, F: open mandible, V. dybowskii threatens V. velutina with its mandibles. Species codes: vel: V. velutina, sim: V. simillima, man: V. mandarinia, ana: V. analis, cra: V. crabro, dyb: V. dybowskii.
Fig 2.
Aggressiveness scores between an invasive alien hornet, V. velutina, and five native Korean hornet species.
Scores are displayed as mean values ± SD. A: V. velutina (score 1.73±1.11) vs Vespa simillima (score 0.57±0.94), t(304) = 9.89, P < 0.001; B: V. velutina (score 0.13±0.48) vs Vespa mandarinia (score 2.58±0.98), t(206) = -22.75, P < 0.001; C: V. velutina (score 0.45±0.86) vs Vespa analis (score 1.76±0.96), t(132) = -8.38, P < 0.001; D: V. velutina (score 0.47±0.86) vs Vespa crabro (score 1.76±0.97), t(184) = -9.62, P < 0.001; E: V. velutina (score 0.16±0.54) vs Vespa dybowskii (score 2.24±0.83), t(262) = -24.22, P < 0.001. See S1 Table.
Fig 3.
Winning percentages between an invasive alien hornet, V. velutina, and five native Korean hornet species.
All wins and losses are based on V. velutina. Species codes: vel: V. velutina, sim: V. simillima, man: V. mandarinia, ana: V. analis, cra: V. crabro, dyb: V. dybowskii.
Fig 4.
Trends of aggressive behaviors between an invasive alien hornet, V. velutina and five native Korean hornet species.
The aggressiveness score of behaviors increases clockwise and the score of each behavior is the sum of the intensity score.
Fig 5.
Body size differences between an invasive alien hornet, V. velutina and five native Korean hornet species.
F(5, 174) = 434.9, P < 0.001.
Fig 6.
Interspecific hierarchies of an invasive alien hornet V. velutina and five native Korean hornet species inferred by aggressiveness scores.