By Sam Cornish
Abstract We analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome of the invasive Asian hornet Vespa velutina from Kyushu Island, Japan. In Japan, V. velutina was first observed on Tsushima Island in 2012 (Sakai and Takahashi 2014; Takahashi et al. In 2015, a V. velutina nest was found in Kitakyushu City on Kyushu Island in Japan (Minoshima et al. (2017) suggested that the V. velutina found in Kyushu Island had invaded the Island from either South Korea or Tsushima Island. Complete sequence analysis of the V. velutina mitochondrial genome may provide important information regarding the origin and invasive routes of these alien hornets.
