The Municipality of Celorico de Basto is placing selective traps throughout the municipality to control the Asian wasp.
The placement of traps is being carried out in the most urban areas of the municipality and is “another effort to control the spread of the velutina wasp, a species that has been causing considerable damage, especially to bee populations with the massive destruction of colonies” , said Domingos Teixeira, councilor for the Environment at Celorico de Basto City Council.
The mayor said that “the mechanisms used are increasingly efficient in combating invasive species and protecting native species, but also in protecting our populations”.
These selective traps are being placed by the Municipality’s Forestry Technical Office, allowing full coverage of urban areas. The traps are all georeferenced with the aim of “being able to concretely study in which places in the municipality this invasive species proliferates most easily, what conditions exist for its nesting and how to control the growth of the nests”, said Luís Sousa.
“The placement of traps at this time of year is directly related to the nesting season, which begins in spring and continues until the end of summer. The traps are a decoy for queens to prevent them from building nests. Over the years, the municipality of Celorico de Basto has been studying the behavior of this invasive species to implement control and prevention measures such as removing nests and placing traps”, concluded Luís Sousa, from the Forestry Technical Office of the Municipality of Celorico from Basto,
