Population genomics of the Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia)

Vespa mandarinia Smith is the world’s largest hornet. It is native to Asia, where it has been recorded from China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Taiwan, and Thailand. In August of 2019, the first confirmed siting of V. mandarinia in North America was made in Nanaimo, Canada. Since that initial siting, more have occurred across the pacific northwest including White Rock and Blaine. News of its arrival spread internationally. Additional nests have since been found by members of the USDA and WSDA. Here, we present a population genomics approach that sequenced members of all invasive colonies collected to date and representative samples from the species native range to 1) identify the source of these invasive populations 2) quantify reductions in genetic diversity and 3) estimate the liklihood of V. mandarinia establishing in North America.