Until recently, only three species of Varroa mites had been recorded: Varroa jacobsoni, V. underwoodi and V. rindereri. Of these, V. jacobsoni had received the most attention from researchers, primarily because it was believed to have switched host from the Asian bee (Apis cerana) to the European honey bee (A. mellifera) some 40-50 years ago, then spread to become a serious parasite of A. melli...

Two behaviors of honey bees, hygienic behavior and grooming, are mechanisms of defense against brood diseases and parasitic mites. Studies have shown that Apis mellifera colonies remove worker brood infested with Varroa jacobsoni mites from the nest (hygienic behavior), and groom the mites off other adult bees, but to a limited extent compared to the original host of V. jacobsoni, A. cerana. Re...

The hive of the honey bee is a suitable habitat for diverse mites (Acari), including nonparasitic, omnivorous, and pollen-feeding species, and parasites. The biology and damage of the three main pest species Acarapis woodi, Varroa jacobsoni, and Tropilaelaps clareae is reviewed, along with detection and control methods. The hypothesis that Acarapis woodi is a recently evolved species is rejecte...

The parasitic mite Varroa jacobsoni is a major problem for beekeeping worldwide. It can be controlled efficiently with a variety of ocaracides. However, Robin F.A. Moritz argues that, owing to the risk of honey contamination and the costs involved with continuous treatment of honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies, there is a pressing need to find alternative ways of varroatosis control. A varie...

Dysanabatium hainanense Peng & Li, sp. n. (Hainan: Wuzhi Shan, Diaoluo Shan) is described and illustrated. Additional records of D. jacobsoni Bernhauer, 1915 are reported. The habitus, the sexual characters, and the distribution of this enormously variable species are illustrated.

Under field conditions, Varroa jacobsoni were shown to be highly effective vectors of deformed wing virus (DWV) between bees. Adult female mites obtained from honeybee pupae naturally infected with DWV contained virus titers many times in excess of those found in their hosts and, beyond that, which might be expected from a concentration effect. It is therefore possible that DWV may be capable o...

Aasrancr: Two African races of the honey bee (Äpis mellifera capansis and A. m. scutellatal have a signilicantly shorter postcapping stage of worker brood than A. rn. carnica. An average within-race heritability of this character is estimated as h2 = 0.8. Reciprocal crosses between the races show that the duration of the postcapping stage also is maternaffy affected (m = 0.23). As the reproduct...