Deformed wing virus (DWV) is considered one of the most damaging pests in honey bees since the spread of its vector, Varroa destructor. In this study, we sequenced the whole genomes of two virus isolates and studied the evolutionary forces that act on DWV genomes. The isolate from a Varroa-tolerant bee colony was characterized by three recombination breakpoints between DWV and the closely relat...

The Varroa mite, Varroa destructor, is an acarine ecto-parasite on Apis mellifera. It is the worst pest of Apis mellifera, yet its reproductive biology on the host is not well understood. In particular, the significance of the phoretic stage, when mites feed on adult bees for a few days, is not clear. In addition, it is not clear whether the preference of mites for nurses observed in the labora...

Four essential oils of Thyme (Thymus linearis), Lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus), Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), Mint (Mentha longifolia) and Formic Acid (65%) used at three concentrations (25, 50 and 100%) against Varroa destructor damaging honey bee Apis mellifera colonies in Honeybee Research Institute, National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan. The percentage of infest...

Varroa mites (Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman, 2000) are becoming resistant to acaricide treatments via metabolic and/or target site desensitivity. Results of a survey of mites from the Carl Hayden AZ lab and from cooperators in five locations (Arizona, California, Florida, Maine, North Dakota) showed that some mites were susceptible to all three acaricides (Amitraz, Coumaphos, Fluvalina...

Varroa destructor is one of the most common parasites of honey bee colonies and is considered as a possible co-factor for honey bee decline. At the same time, the use of pesticides in intensive agriculture is still the most effective method of pest control. There is limited information about the effects of pesticide exposure on parasitized honey bees. Larval ingestion of certain pesticides coul...

The Varroa destructor mite has become the greatest threat to Apis mellifera health worldwide, but rarely causes serious damage to its native host Apis cerana. Understanding the resistance mechanisms of eastern bees against Varroa mites will help researchers determine how to protect other species from this organism. The A. cerana genome has not been previously sequenced; hence, here we sequenced...

The ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor is a major global threat to the Western honeybee Apis mellifera. This mite was originally a parasite of A. cerana in Asia but managed to spill over into colonies of A. mellifera which had been introduced to this continent for honey production. To date, only two almost clonal types of V. destructor from Korea and Japan have been detected in A. mellifera c...

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...

The Varroa mite, Varroa destructor, is an important pest of honeybees and has played a prominent role in the decline in bee colony numbers over recent years. Although pyrethroids such as tau-fluvalinate and flumethrin can be highly effective in removing the mites from hives, their intensive use has led to many reports of resistance. To investigate the mechanism of resistance in UK Varroa sample...

Around 14 distinct virus species-complexes have been detected in honeybees, each with one or more strains or sub-species. Here we present the initial characterization of an entirely new virus species-complex discovered in honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) and varroa mite (Varroa destructor) samples from Europe and the USA. The virus has a naturally poly-adenylated RNA genome of about 6500 nucleotide...