In Vespa velutina, although no parasites or parasitoids have been found as natural enemies, strepsipteran parasites were first discovered in 11 workers in Andong in 2020. Identification using the DNA barcode method along with the morphological characters, identified them as Xenos moutoni and X. oxyodontes. These were all males (except for one parasite whose appearance was not identified), and consisted of four larvae and seven pupae. This is the first recorded strepsipteran parasites in Korea, Japan, and Europe, invaded by V. velutina. A Strepsipteran parasite is prevalent in Vespa species, but reports on the host is lacking in Korea. Although it was not possible to determine the exact infection rate of the strepsipteran parasites in this study, it seems that the parasite of V. velutina has already progressed in the southern region due to the geographical characteristics of Andong, located in the central region of Korea. In particular, stylopized workers do not work in the nest, which negatively affects nest development, and reproductive individuals (male and new queen) do not mate, which negatively affects the formation of new colonies in the following year. Nevertheless, the control effect is likely to be minor due to the high reproductive rate and compensatory effect of social wasps.

Vespula rufa (Linnaeus, 1758), known as the red wasp, is a social wasp species. We analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome of V. rufa from South Korea, for an ongoing systematic study of the Korean Vespidae. This species is distributed in northern parts of North America, northern and central Europe, and parts of Asia. It can be distinguished from other species of the genus by usually having reddish brown areas on the 1st and 2nd tergites. The mitogenome is 17,663 bp in length, includes 13 protein-coding genes, 24 transfer RNA genes, and two ribosomal RNA genes. The nucleotide composition is 40.5% adenines, 43.00% thymines, 6.1% guanines, and 10.4 % cytosines.

The Gwangneung arboretum, affiliated to the Korea Forest Research Institute, was established in 1987 and it became the Korea National Arboretum (KNA) in May 24, 1999. The entomological collection of KNA currently holds a total of 510,365 specimens of 6,849 species including more than 330 type specimens of Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, and Coleoptera are deposited. As the results of recent systematic studies by KNA entomologists, 67 new species were described, and 108 species were newly recorded from Korea and other countries. Not only we have conducted taxonomic studies but also have broaden our research boundary to natural enemy surveys for pine wilt disease vectors, plant and insect interaction, and exotic insect species monitoring. In this presentation, we would like to briefly introduce current entomological researches of KNA in the hope of future collaborations with other entomologists.