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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Behavioral Ecology

Social attraction mediates collective foraging decisions in invasive yellow-legged hornets

  • Mathilde Lacombrade1,2,3
  • Charlotte Doussot1
  • Blandine Mahot-Castaing1
  • Jacques Gautrais1
  • Loïc Goulefert1
  • Edgar Ferrieu3
  • Amelie Bourg3
  • Denis Thiéry2
  • Fanny Vogelweith4
  • Mathieu Lihoreau1
4 affiliations
  1. 1Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI); CNRS, Université de Toulouse, 165 Avenue Grundberg-Manago, 31062 Toulouse, France.
  2. 2UMR 1065 Santé et Agroécologie du Vignoble, INRAE, 71 Avenue Edouard Bourlaux, 33883 Villenave d'Ornon, France.
  3. 3M2i Biocontrol, 370 route de Cauzenil, Parnac 46140, France.
  4. 4Entomo-Logik, 46000 Cahors, France.
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Abstract

Group-living animals commonly use social information to locate and exploit resources. In many insects, fish, birds and mammals, this leads to collective foraging decisions by which animals aggregate on a single food source despite several alternatives of different or equal qualities. Here, we report collective foraging decisions in a widespread invasive hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax) that predates on bees and consume plant nectar. When given a choice between 2 identical sugar solutions (in feeders or in traps), wild hornets distributed asymmetrically between the 2 options, and this was more frequent as the number of hornets increased. Priming one of the food sources with dead hornets predictably biased the aggregation toward this particular food source, irrespective of whether the baits were conspecifics or hornets from a different species. Inter-attraction in yellow-legged hornets is thus passive and non-specific, possibly mediated by visual and/or chemical cues displayed by dead hornets. Social foraging may provide important benefits to hornets invading new territories and bring new perspectives for population control.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{lacombrade2026social,
  title = {{Social attraction mediates collective foraging decisions in invasive yellow-legged hornets}},
  author = {Mathilde Lacombrade and Charlotte Doussot and Blandine Mahot-Castaing and Jacques Gautrais and Loïc Goulefert and Edgar Ferrieu and Amelie Bourg and Denis Thiéry and Fanny Vogelweith and Mathieu Lihoreau},
  journal = {Behavioral Ecology},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1093/beheco/arag126},
  url = {https://hal.science/hal-05841166v1},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Social attraction mediates collective foraging decisions in invasive yellow-legged hornets
AU  - Mathilde Lacombrade
AU  - Charlotte Doussot
AU  - Blandine Mahot-Castaing
AU  - Jacques Gautrais
AU  - Loïc Goulefert
AU  - Edgar Ferrieu
AU  - Amelie Bourg
AU  - Denis Thiéry
AU  - Fanny Vogelweith
AU  - Mathieu Lihoreau
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/27
JO  - Behavioral Ecology
DO  - 10.1093/beheco/arag126
UR  - https://hal.science/hal-05841166v1
AB  - Group-living animals commonly use social information to locate and exploit resources. In many insects, fish, birds and mammals, this leads to collective foraging decisions by which animals aggregate on a single food source despite several alternatives of different or equal qualities. Here, we report collective foraging decisions in a widespread invasive hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax) that predates on bees and consume plant nectar. When given a choice between 2 identical sugar solutions (in feeders or in traps), wild hornets distributed asymmetrically between the 2 options, and this was more frequent as the number of hornets increased. Priming one of the food sources with dead hornets predictably biased the aggregation toward this particular food source, irrespective of whether the baits were conspecifics or hornets from a different species. Inter-attraction in yellow-legged hornets is thus passive and non-specific, possibly mediated by visual and/or chemical cues displayed by dead hornets. Social foraging may provide important benefits to hornets invading new territories and bring new perspectives for population control.
SN  - 1045-2249
SN  - 1465-7279
ER  -