Across the Northern hemisphere, managed honey bee colonies, Apis mellifera, are currently affected by abrupt depopulation during winter and many factors are suspected to be involved, either alone or in combination. Parasites and pathogens are considered as principal actors, in particular the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor, associated viruses and the microsporidian Nosema ceranae. Here we ...

Australia does not have varroa mite. However, we investigated whether modified hive bottom boards used for varroa mite management in honey bee colonies had other benefits, for honey production. We compared a number of colony parameters between hives fitted with tube, mesh and conventional (solid) bottom boards in two locations in eastern Australian, Richmond NSW and Castlemaine Victoria. Coloni...

There is an increasing global trend of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) affecting a wide range of species, including honey bees. The global epidemic of the single stranded RNA Deformed wing virus (DWV), driven by the spread of Varroa destructor has been well documented. However, DWV is just one of many insect RNA viruses which infect a wide range of hosts. Here we report the full genome sequ...

Honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera carnical, infested with Varroa jacobsonl were de-queened and divided into 2 subunits. Each pair of subunits were requeened with an inseminated A m capensis and A m carnica queen. The development of the mite population was monitored by determining the number of mites in samples of brood, and worker bees, and lhe number of dead mites on the bottom board of the h...

background: the varroa destructor varroasis is a very serious parasite of honeybee apis mellifera . the objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of varroa treatment using organic acid (oxalic acid) in algeria identify­ing its side effects on bee colonies. methods : treatment was conducted in one apiary consisting 30 colonies kept in langstroth hives kind. oxalic acid dripped di...

grooming behaviour is one of the important mechanisms of honeybee defence against parasitic mites. in addition to genetical characteristics, environmental conditions affect the behavioural traits of honeybee colonies. the main objective of this study was to examine the effect of temperature and humidity on the ability of honeybee workers to remove varroa mites from their body. one hundred worke...

Varroa destructor (Vd) is a honeybee ectoparasite. Its original host is the Asian honeybee, Apis cerana, but it has also become a severe, global threat to the European honeybee, Apis mellifera. Previous studies have shown that Varroa can mimic a host's cuticular hydrocarbons (HC), enabling the parasite to escape the hygienic behaviour of the host honeybees. By transferring mites between the two...

Quantifying the impact of alien invasive species on ecosystem services is an essential step in developing effective practices and policy for invasive species management. Here we develop a stochastic bioeconomic model that enables the economic impact of an invasive pest to be estimated before its arrival, based on relatively poorly specified ecological and economic parameters. We developed the m...

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...

This nation-wide survey including 382 Swedish apiaries is the first to document base-line information of prevalence and distribution ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor, mite-associ...