PARASITIZATION OF VESPA-ORIENTALIS NESTS BY SPHECOPHAGA-VESPARUM CURTIS IN SOUTHERN ISRAEL (HYMENOPTERA, VESPIDAE, ICHNEUMONIDAE)

Vespa orientalis F. (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), a major pest of apicultur e, indirectly disrupts pollination of fruit and vegetable crops, and c onstitutes a public health menace. Control methods are imperfect, labo r-intensive, and entail the use of medically and environmentally dange rous chemicals. A parasitic wasp, Sphecophaga vesparum Curtis (Hymenop tera: Vespidae), has been found to attack a large proportion (up to 10 0%) of observed V. orientalis nests in southern Israel. Within these n ests, 2.5-95.1% of host cells were parasitized by three to seven indiv iduals. Heavily parasitized nests showed considerable reductions in th e proportion of queen cells.