1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Taxonomy and conservation go hand-in-hand. We cannot

necessarily expect to conserve organisms that we cannot identify,

and our attempts to understand the consequences of environmental

change and degradation are compromised fatally if we cannot

recognize and describe the interacting components of natural

ecosystems. However, taxonomy and conservation clearly are not

the same thing. Describing the world’s species and their

relationships is not equivalent to saving them. Completed species

lists, regional taxonomies and guides on their own do nothing to

conserve species. But neither is it going to be possible to

develop the necessary plan1992; Samper 2004). It is very

important to know the living organisms around us, and careful and

accurate identification and classification are of vital

importance (Kapoor, 1998; Garcia et al., ‘2008).

Insects are important because of their diversity, ecological

role, and influence on agriculture, human health, and natural

resources (Foottit and Adler, 2009). Insects create the

2

biological foundation for all terrestrial ecosystems. They cycle

nutrients, pollinate plants disperse seeds, maintain soil

structure and fertility, control populations of other organisms,

and provide a major food source for other taxa (Foottit and

Adler, 2009). According to Gullan and Cranston (2005), there are

insects that are considered keystone species because if they

became extinct, the 2 wider ecosystems might collapse. For

example, in tropical soils, termites convert cellulose which

suggests they are keystone species in tropical soil structuring.

Wasps are considered beneficial to man given its many aspect

in terms of its importance for understanding the evolution of

social behavior, these insects are an ecologically important

group. The high protein diet provides relevant ecological and

economic roles in the biological control of pests (Prezoto et al.,

2007). Some species are necrophagous, and play a considerable

role in nutrient cycling by accelerating this process (O’Donnell,

1995). The structure of social hymenopteran communities is

usually characterized by simple ecological indices (Santos &

Marques 1996, Aguiar & Martins 1997, Castro & Viana 1997). Due

to ecological importance of social wasps, various studies have

3

been conducted in order to better understand the biology of this

group, involving aspects of preference for nesting habit,

seasonality and nest density (Diniz & Kitayama, 1994),

The family Vespidae includes some of the most common and

conspicuous of all wasps so that the word “wasp” is often used to

refer to common yellowjackets or paper wasps the social species

within the Vespidae rather than members of other, much more

diverse families of Hymenoptera.

About 5,000 species of Family Vespidae which belongs to

Class Insecta. Vespid wasps have been important subjects in

efforts to unravel the patterns and processes of the evolution of

eusocial behavior, as extant species of Vespids exhibit grades of

sociality ranging from solitary nesting to eusocial behavior

(Cowan D. 1991, Jeanne RL. 1980). Eusocial behavior in the

Vespidae is exhibited in the clade comprising the subfamilies

Stenogastrinae, Vespinae, and Polistinae. Some eusocial species

are independent founders: Females of one generation, either alone

or in cooperative groups, initiate new nests. Others are swarm-

founders: Females from more than one generation move to new sites

in a coordinated group and initiate nests (Jeanne RL. 1980).

4

Forage for water, pulp, carbohydrates, and animal protein. When

hunting, social wasp are opportunistic generalist and use a

variety of mechanism to locate and choose prey. (Carpenter J.M.

1987).

As insects, wasps are characterized by three pairs of

jointed legs; an abdomen that is divided into 11 segments and

lacks any legs or wings; and a body separated into three parts

(head, thorax, and abdomen), with one pair of antennae on the

head. As true insects, they also have ectognathous, or exposed,

mouthparts. Wasps can be differentiated from bees as the latter

have a flattened hind basitarsus. Unlike bees, wasps generally

lack plumose hairs, in most wasps, it has two pairs of wings, an

ovipositor, or stinger which is only present in females because

it derives from the ovipositor, a female sex organ. Few or

no hairs in contrast to bees. Nearly all wasps are terrestrial;

only a few specialized parasitic groups are aquatic (Ross, 1991).

Although wasps are distributed world-wide, the greatest

diversity is to be found in the tropical regions of the globe.

Hymenoptera the order to which wasps belong, is one of the most

5

diverse order of insects, nearly 100,000 species world-wide have

been recorded, the prospective number is certainly well over

300,000 (Archer, 1989). The exact number of described insect

species is uncertain due to synonyms and the lack of a global

list waiting to be discovered, (Groombridge 1992; Anon. 2003).

Morphometrics can be broadly defined as the quantitative

study of the size and shapes of organisms. Often only parts (e.g.

limbs) or organs of an organism are measured, and more general

conclusions are drawn about evolutionary relationships, for

example, from these measurements. What is now called traditional

morphometrics or multivariate morphometics, is the application of

multivariate statistical techniques (e.g. discriminate function

analysis) to morphological data sets (Adams et al., 2004).

Statement of the Problem

One of the problems that the agricultural industries faces

right now is the increase of pests in their plots or farm sites.

Wasps (Vespidae), as we all know it is a great pest killer since

it eats smaller insects particularly pests. In relation to this

problem, an assessment of the diversity of wasps (Vespidae) in

6

specific sites in Mt. Malinao will be conducted for inventory

purposes.

A difference in every species is also a great and major

problem faced by researchers of wasps (Vespidae). Even debates

about this are organized in some countries. Having the important

and eligible ideas on differentiation of this organisms based on

wing morphometry is needed to comply with the said problem.

Objectives

The primary objective of the study is to focus on the taxonomy

and morphometry of different genera and species of wasps in

specific sites in Mt Malinao. The following objectives will be

observed in the experiment that will be conducted.

1.) Collect, describe and identify the Vespid wasps species

in Mt. Malinao up to at least genus level.

2.) Compare and distinguish similarities and differences

among the Vespid wasps in terms of external morphology and

morphometry.

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3.) To correlate microweather parameters (temperature, RH

and rainfall amount) with the occurrence and abundance of

vespid wasps.

Scope and Delimitation

The study focused only in the assessment of wasps (Vespidae)

found in Mt. Malinao. The sampling will be conducted in Mt.

Malinao only. The weather on the sampling dates will be observed

and will be recorded. Nests and juvenile wasps will not be

included in the gathering of samples. Sampling will be done from

August to October 2015

Significance of the Study

The success of the study is essential to giving basic

knowledge to the students and also professionals in the field of

insect taxonomic identification and classification. It will also

help the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources)

to give information regarding the new and easier way of measuring

8

the wing morphometry of Hymenoptera Vespidae and could provide

them the present information and condition of wasps (Vespidae) in

Mt. Malinao. It will also give information on the social and

behavioral characteristics of wasps (Vesipdae).

The data that will be gathered in this study can help the

farmers and localities on how Vespid wasps can help in pest

control in Mt. Malinao.

The survey and identification of genera and species of this

organism will contribute to the known data on specific areas

chosen. The abundance of these organisms also contributes to the

ecological aspects of the said areas.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDY

This chapter is a presentation of gathered literature and

studies, which are directly or indirectly related to the present.

That would help the researcher to simply understand, develop

concepts of the study by giving enough knowledge and background

that would clarify the essence of the study.

Vespid Wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Social insects, such as termites, ants and

many bees and wasps, are the most familiar species

of eusocial animal (Gary 2008).  They live together in large

well-organized colonies that may be so tightly integrated and

genetically similar that the colonies of some species are

sometimes considered super organisms. It is sometimes argued that

the various species of honey bee are the only invertebrates and

indeed one of the few non-human groups to have evolved a system

of abstract symbolic communication where a behavior is used

to represent and convey specific information about something in

the environment.

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Wasps are essential to the natural environment and function

at their highest level during the summer months. Wasps eat

arachnids and a lot of pest insects, such as ants or

caterpillars, sometimes by laying their eggs on or inside other

insects or spiders that are eaten by newly hatched wasp larvae.

Just like bees, wasps aid in the pollination of plants. In this

communication system, called dance language, the angle at which a

bee dances represents a direction relative to the sun, and the

length of the dance represents the distance to be flown. (Gullan,

P.J.; Cranston, P.S. 2005). Social wasps build nests and are

foragers (Spradbery 1973). For these reasons, social wasps can be

considered semi sessile organisms with some fidelity to their

environments, which makes them highly appropriate for community

structure studies (Heithaus 1979, Santos 2000).

Morphology

Wasps are characterized by jointed appendages,

an exoskeleton(hard, external covering), segmented body,

central nervous system, digestive system, open circulatory

system, and specialized sensory receptors. The term "jointed

appendages" refers to both legs and antennae.

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As insects, wasps are characterized by three pairs of

jointed legs; an abdomen that is divided into 11 segments and

lacks any legs or wings; and a body separated into three parts

(head, thorax, and abdomen), with one pair of antennae on the

head. As true insects, they also have ectognathous, or exposed,

mouthparts. Wasps can be differentiated from bees as the latter

have a flattened hind basitarsus. Unlike bees, wasps generally

lack plumose hairs, in most wasps, it has two pairs of wings, an

ovipositor, or stinger which is only present in females because

it derives from the ovipositor, a female sex organ. Few or

no hairs in contrast to bees. Nearly all wasps are terrestrial;

only a few specialized parasitic groups are aquatic (Ross, 1991).

12

Figure 1. Basic morphology of wasp, the egg-laying ovipositor

that is modified into a stinger on female insects.

As male wasps don’t sting, in some cases be differentiated

from females by virtue of the fact that the upper region of the

male's mesosoma (called the tergum) consists of an additional

terga. The total number of terga is typically six. The difference

between sterile female worker wasps and queens also varies

between species but generally the queen is noticeably larger than

both males and other females.

Life cycle

The order Hymenoptera is the sister lineage of all other

holometabolous insects (Ishiwata

et al. 2011) insects that develop from an egg, through several

larval instars, to a pupa stage, and finally emerge as an adult

(Gauld and Bolton 1988). Vespidae, like all Hymenoptera have a

complete metamorphosis. From the egg hatches a larva, a legless,

eyeless grub whitish in colour, with well-developed mouth parts

provided with powerful muscles that occupy most of the head

capsule. Antennae are reduced to small orbits bearing one or

13

several sensory cones. They have five growth stages called

instars. When the larva reaches the fifth stage, it continues to

feed for a short period of time and soon stops and starts

spinning a very fine lining on the cell walls whilst closing the

aperture with a silken cap of variable thickness, texture and

coloration interspecifically.

At this stage fecal matter is expelled from the larva, it is

pushed to the bottom of the cell or even extracted by workers (as

in the tribe Ropalidiini). The larva enters then a pre-pupal

stage that may last a few days after which it moults into the

pupal stage. About two to three weeks later the adult wasp

emerges biting through the cocoon cap. The emerging workers are

generally smaller than the queen and are responsible for all

aspects of nest construction and maintenance as well as foraging

activities (food and construction materials). The type of food

resource provided to larvae by the ovipositing female has been an

important biological trait throughout the evolution of

Hymenoptera and has resulted in a large variety of life histories

(Gauld and Bolton1988).

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Figure 2. General life cycle of a wasp.

History

Ancestral Hymenoptera fed on plant tissues, and the

transition from phytophagy to forms of 3 carnivory (parasitoids

and predators) has led to the greatest species diversity of the

order (Sharkey 2007, Heraty et al. 2011) The predominant

lifestyle in modern Hymenoptera is that of parasitoids where

larvae directly obtain nourishment from a single host individual

to complete their development, and in which death of the host

always results. As a rule and throughout the time, members of the

order Hymenoptera can be regarded as ecological specialists. 

15

Most species are rather narrowly adapted to specific habitats

and/or specific hosts. 

Vespids are small to large wasps with wings folded

longitudinally at rest and all species are prompt fliers, often

encountered on sunny days. All but the Eumeninae form colonies of

various sizes, morphology and organization. Their remarkable

success as a taxon probably has more to do with their immense

range of behavioral adaptation rather than any physical or

biochemical characteristic. (Gauld and Bolton 1988, Eggleton and

Belshaw 1992, Godfray 1994, Quicke 1997). Approximately half the

species of Hymenoptera are parasitoids (Gauld and Bolton 1988,

Eggleton and Belshaw 1992, Godfray 1994, Quicke 1997, Grisssell

1999, Huber 2009).

Distribution

The order Hymenoptera contains over 115, 000 described

species and also selected groups of wasps are distributed

worldwide, and it is among the four most diverse groups of

insects along with the orders Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera

(flies), and Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths.) The Hymenoptera

16

are major constituents of terrestrial habitats because of their

numerous interactions with other organisms via a diverse array of

ecological lifestyles. They are important as herbivores,

parasitoids, pollinators, predators, and scavengers (Sharkey

2007, Huber 2009).

About 5,000 species of Vespidae which belongs to Insecta and

this family is divided into 6 families including Vespinae (69

species), Eumeninae (3,579 species), Polistinae (958 species),

Stenogastrinae (58 species), Euparagiinae (10 species), and

Masarinae (344 species) (Carpenter, 1982). In Korea, taxonomic

studies of Vespidae have been conducted intermittently by Kim et

al. (1994, 2006), Kim and Yoon (1996), Kim (2001, 2011), Kim and

Kim (2011) and other researchers, but a complete list of domestic

species has not decided yet including whether some species

belonging to Dolichovespula, Vespula, Polistes live in Korea by

misidentified species and dealing with the synonym. However,

recently, according to Choi et al. (2012, submitted), it is

reported that it is valid to consider that domestic Vespidae has

2 subfamilies, 5 genera and 30 species (including 3 subspecies)

provisionally except Eumeninae. Vespidae are all eusocial and

17

subsocial insects except the solitary type, and divided into 3

castes (gueen, worker or male).

Social wasps (Vespinae) are native to the Holarctic, but by

1945 the German wasp was accidentally imported to New Zealand

(Thomas 1960; Donovan 1978), and by 1983 the Common wasp was well

established in Dunedin although it was probably present in

Wellington several years previously (Donovan 1983a, b, 1984). The

German wasp now occurs throughout the country. In some areas

infestations adversely affect public health, tourism, apiculture,

silviculture, horticulture, and the environment.

The Common wasp appears to be spreading rapidly, and will

become probably as widely distributed (Donovan 1984). Arthropod

enemies of wasps have not been reported from New Zealand.

Spradbery (1973) listed approximately 150 insect species

associated with wasps in the Holarctic, and 400 plus organisms

were reported by Edwards (1980). Of these, the parasitoid

Sphecophaga vesparum (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) appears to have

the greatest potential to reduce wasp numbers. Although males

infrequently occur, the species is parthenogenic and

18

multivoltine, which suggests that a successful invasion could

eventually cause the demise of even large nests.

Ecology

Although pest insects attract the most attention, many

insects are beneficial to the environment and humans. Some

insects, like wasps,

bees, butterflies and ants, pollinate flowering plants.

Pollination is a mutualistic relationship between plants and

insects. As insects gather nectar from different plants of the

same species, they also spread pollen from plants on which they

have previously fed. This greatly increases plants' ability

to cross-pollinate, which maintains and possibly even improves

their evolutionary fitness. This ultimately affects humans since

ensuring healthy crops is critical to agriculture. As well as

pollination ants help with seed distribution of plants. This

helps to spread the plants which increases plant diversity. This

leads to an overall better environment (Wilson 1994).  A serious

environmental problem is the decline insects, and a number of

species of insects are now cultured primarily for pollination

19

management in order to have sufficient pollinators in the

field, orchard or greenhouse at bloom time (Deborah T 1991). 

Besides the importance of social wasps for understanding

the evolution of social behavior, these insects are an

ecologically important group. The high protein diet provides

relevant ecological and economic roles in the biological control

of pests (Prezoto et al., 2007). Some species are necrophagous,

and play a considerable role in nutrient cycling by accelerating

this process (O’Donnell, 1995). Due to ecological importance of

social wasps, various studies have been conducted in order to

better understand the biology of this group, involving aspects of

preference for nesting habitat and nest density (Diniz &

Kitayama, 1994), seasonality (Diniz & Kitayama, 1998), nesting

habits (Lima et al., 2000) or inventories.

A significant number of species records have been carried

out in the Amazon region (Silveira, 2002; Silveira et al., 2005;

Silveira et al., 2008; Silva & Silveira, 2009), Atlantic forest

(Santos et al., 2007; Gomes & Noll, 2009) and Cerrado (Diniz &

Kitayama, 1994; Diniz & Kitayama, 1998; Souza & Prezoto, 2006;

Elpino-Campos et al., 2007; Prezoto & Clemente, 2010; Souza et

20

al., 2010). In adition Wasps are important in food chains. Wasps

are critically important in natural biocontrol. Almost every pest

insect species has a wasp species that is a predator or parasite

upon it. Parasitic wasps are also increasingly used in

agricultural pest control as they have little impact on crops.

Inventorying an area is the first step towards its

conservation and rational use (Melo et al. 2005). By undertaking

a survey of species of social wasps, several aspects of their

biology and behavior must be considered, such as colony

seasonality, foraging activity, and nesting habits. Brazilian

rainforests represent a peak of biodiversity, and in this sense,

certain localities possess the greatest abundance and richness of

known species on the planet (Machado et al. 1998), including in

their diversity of social wasps (Richards 1978).

Studies on wasps Taxonomy and Diversity

Bingham (1897) and Das & Gupta (1989) made valuable

contributions on the taxonomy of Vespidae from India and its

adjacent countries. The knowledge on vespid fauna of Rajasthan is

very scanty and fragmentary. Fourteen genera and 20 species are

21

recorded from Rajasthan till date in scattered literatures

(Nurse, 1903; van der Vecht, 1941; Chhotani & Ray, 1975; Giordani

Soika, 1982; Gusenleitner, 2006; Kojima et al., 2007; Girish

Kumar, 2010, 2011, 2012 a & b; Girish Kumar & Lambert Kishore,

2012; Girish Kumar & Carpenter, 2013; Girish Kumar et al., 2013).

An attempt has been made here to provide a consolidated account

on the fauna of the family Vespidae from the state of Rajasthan.

The social wasps of Brazil have the asynchronous colony

cycle. The pattern has been well-described for the genera

Mischocyttarus, Polistes and Polybia (Gobbi and Zucchi 1980;

Simões and Mecchi 1983; Gobbi 1984; Simões et al. 1985; Gobbi and

Simões 1988; Marques et al. 1992; Giannotti and Machado 1994;

Giannotti et al. 1995; Giannotti 1998). On the other hand, the

foraging activity of Polistinae are primarily limited by physical

factors (Spradbery 1973), such as light intensity, temperature,

air humidity, and wind speed, and some studies have shown that

individual wasps forage more intensively during the warmest and

least humid hours of the day (Giannotti et al. 1995; Andrade and

Prezoto 2001; Resende et al. 2001).

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Thirteen generations of S. v. vesparum were raised by July

1985, and all stages of the parasitoid were released into wasp

nests in Canterbury. Six of seven V. vulgaris nests and three of

six V. germanica nests were parasitized. Although releases

occurred late in the growth cycle of nests, at least one

generation of parasitoids emerged in four V. vulgaris nests and one

V. germanica nest. One of the V. vulgaris nests probably developed

two generations of parasitoids. Parasitoid numbers in this nest

increased approximately eight-fold. (B. J. Donovan & P. E. C.

Read 1987).

European paper wasps (Polistes Latreille, 1802) closely

related to P. gallicus. , as two distinct species can be

recognized in what has hitherto been considered Polistes

bischoffi Weyrauch, 1937. One species is almost as light coloured

as P. gallicus, and is mainly recorded from Southern Europe and

Western Asia. The other species is darker and has a more northern

distribution in Central Europe. Both species occur syntopically

in Switzerland. Given that the lost lectotype of P. bischoffi

originated from Sardinia, as a neotype. The northern species is

described as P. helveticus sp. n. here. We also provide a

23

redescription of P. bischoffi rev. stat. and an identification

key including three more closely related species, P. biglumis, P.

gallicus and P. hellenicus. (Neumeyer R, Baur H, Guex G-D, Praz C

2014).

Records of 15 Palaearctic species of Vespidae are given. The

following taxa are newly recorded: Polistes rubellus

Gusenleitner, 2006, from Nepal, Dolichovespula adulterina (du

Buysson, 1905) and Katamenes tauricus (de Saussure, 1855) from

the Tuva Republic (Eastern Siberia, Russia), Vespula vulgaris

(Linnaeus, 1758) from Ciudad Real province (Spain), Ancistrocerus

gazelle (Panzer, 1798) from Gran Canaria (Spain, Canary Islands),

Hemipterochilus bicoloricornis (Giordani Soika, 1952) from Turkey

(Asian part), Microdynerus latro Blüthgen, 1955, from Syria, and

Leptochilus membranaceus (Morawitz, 1867) and Pseudepipona

tricolor Gusenleitner, 1976, both from Kazakhstan. Worldwide

distribution of each taxon is also summarized (Dvorak and Castro

2007)

Knowledge about taxonomy and biology of species of

Hymenoptera is hampered by the challenge of their identification

because of both intraspecific morphological plasticity and small

24

body size (Godfray and Shimada 1999, Gariepy et al. 2007,

Grissell 1999, Stone et al. 2008,

Huber 2009). Studies of life history traits of Hymenoptera, such

as development time, are generally limited either by biology

(parasitoid: Mayhew and Blackburn 1999) and/or taxonomy

(Ichneumonoidea: Braconidae and Ichneumonidae: Harvey and Strand

2002) to facilitate the search for possible patterns. To support

broad scale comparisons of development time between interacting

species of Hymenoptera with different lifestyles and habitats, a

simple and efficient tool is required for rapid species

identification.

Morphometric Studies

Morphological measurements of insects, including Hymenoptera

and especially the eusocial species, have had a long history of

use (e.g. Huxley 1972) and have often been termed

morphometrics. This is not true multivariate morphometrics as

currently defined above and often only involves plots of two

variables, such as head width and antennal scape length to

describe allometric growth and caste differences in ants,

25

although a combination of univariate and multivariate statistics

has sometimes been employed to determine caste differences (e.g.

Gelin et al., 2008). In other studies, such as those on bees,

multiple characters will be measured and used descriptively but

multivariate statistical analysis is not employed. I will refer

to this approach as classical morphometrics.

Wing morphometrics has been successfully used in taxonomic

studies of Hymenoptera to differentiate between closely related

taxa, and has also shown significant differences in wing shape,

size and mechanical properties between species (Aytekin et al.,

2007), however there are only a relatively few studies using wing

morphometrics to estimate fluctuating asymmetry.

Geometric morphometrics, a technique based on a rigorous

statistical assessment of shape, to compare the forewings of

fifteen species of Stenogastrinae wasps belonging to four

different genera. For the first time in this subfamily, we

propose a phylogenetic classification of the species based on

wing morphology that largely agrees with the cladistics data

available at genus level and reflects the differences among

26

species in terms of nesting material and architecture of their

nest. (Baracchi, Dapporto and Turillazzi 2011).

Morphometric techniques to describe the venation patterns

typical of five populations of P. dominulus sampled at widely

separated geographic locations. Searched for significant

similarities and differences among the samples using the

technique of thin plate-splines (TPS) defined from landmarks

(specified points in the venation pattern). To test the

hypothesis that there might be a greater morphological similarity

between populations linked by the geographical routes easiest to

travel, we analysed the spatial organisation of shape changes and

compared shape similarities between the five conspecific

populations (Adams & Funk l997; Pavlinov 2001; Rohlf 1996).

27

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter consists of the description of the study site,

materials, research method, sources of data, and instrumentation

used in the study. These are vital for the collection and

accuracy of accumulated information.

Study Area

Malinao Volcano is situated between

the provinces of Albay and Camarines Sur in the southeastern

region of Luzon Island. The mountain is forested with an

elevation of 1,548 metres (5,079 ft) above sea level and a base

diameter of 22.5 kilometres (14.0 mi) as a large mass of land in

the midst of a forest and its crater has a wall that is breached

on the eastern side, located at 13°24′58″N   123°36′30″E .

(Knittel-Weber, 1990).

28

Figure 3. Map of Bicol Peninsula and Mt. Malinao, Albay

Philippines

Securing Permits to Collect and Study Biological Specimens

Since the site is a protected area, permits needed from the

sites from Local Government Units and be presented to the

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will be

secured first before conducting this study. The proposal will

also be presented to the DENR and the local council tasked to

monitor activities in the area.

Preliminary Activities

29

There will be three sampling sites that will be chosen from

the study area. Each site will be visited first and inhabitants

of each site will be interviewed in order to determine the areas

where wasps colonies or individuals can be found. The Elevation

or altitude including exact coordinate of local site will be

measured using a GPS (Global Positioning System) device.

Collection of Wasps Specimens

Collection of insect specimen will be done from July to

October of 2015. The collection method will be aerial netting

which is done when insect is in flight. Aerial nets to be used

will come in wooden handles or long retractable handles for

obtaining representative specimens. Wasps, being diurnal insects

which is active during day time, will be captured from 8am until

11am of the day and from 1p.m. until 4 p.m. in the afternoon.

As an initial step for preservation of the specimen

gathered, the collected specimen will be placed on 70% Ethyl

Alcohol solution for 5-30 minutes.

Preservation and Identification of Collected Specimens

30

The biological samples will be mounted with an insect pin

and will be dried inside a modified insect drier. Morphological

examination of the insect samples using magnifying lenses, and an

Olympus dissecting microscope. Photos of samples will be taken

using a camera mounted on the same microscope. The collected

specimen will be examined for morphometric analysis. Sorting of

species and sex determination will be done by comparison on the

differences and similarities of morphology. Taxonomic

identification of the species followed by the aid of the

dichotomous keys.

Statistical Analysis

Measuring of diversity

Shannon’s Index of General Diversity (H’) was used to

determine the diversity of species in the study site.

H'=−Pi(lnPi)

Where:

Pi = importance probability of each species (ni/N)

ni= number of individuals

N = total number of individuals

31

ln = natural logarithm

Index of Dominance (C) was also be used to compare the

dominance of the same species in different area.

C=(¿/N)

Where:

N = total number of individuals of all species

ni = total number of individuals of species A

Measuring weather parameters

Temperature will be measured using a thermometer.

Temperature during sampling date and time will be noted. Relative

humidity will be measured using a psychrometer. Measurement will

be done during morning and dusk any relative values will be

recorded for data purposes. Amount of rainfall will be measured

using a container with calibration of centimeters. Measurement

will be done during dusk every day of sampling time. Analysis of

variance will be used for data analyses.

Statistical Analysis

32

A t-test’s statistical significance indicates whether or not

the difference between two groups’ averages most likely reflects

a “real” difference in the population from which the groups were

sampled.

LITERATURE CITED

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