Changes in the distribution and proportions ofVespula vulgaris(L.) andVespula germanica(Fab.) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) between 1987 and 1990 in New Zealand

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Abstract
We collected more than 90 000 vespine wasps sent in by members of the public from throughout New Zealand between January 1987 and July 1991. Both the German wasp (established before 1950s) and the common wasp (established before 1980s) were widespread throughout most of the country in 1990. The common wasp had increased its distribution since 1987, mostly in the lower North Island and lower South Island, but was still absent from most of Northland, East Cape, and some regions of the central North Island and southern South Island. The common wasp had almost totally displaced the German wasp in honeydew beech forests by 1990 and accounted for a higher proportion of most samples from rural habitats. It had not completely displaced the German wasp in urban and other native forest habitats. It accounted for >50% of the vespulid population in the lower North Island and upper South Island. Its abundance had increased relative to German wasps where it was well established in 1987, as well as in locations where it was still spreading, and in samples from above 100 m a.s.l. except in southern areas where it was still colonising at lower altitudes. The different spatial and temporal patterns of relative abundance of these two wasps suggest that different ecological factors are controlling their distributions in different habitats, altitudinal zones, and geographical regions.