SHB? Photos from one of my queen castles...

[Durandal]

I dropped a frame in about two weeks ago to see if I could harvest a queen from a supercedure cell.

It had worked well so far this year with about a 66% success rate.

I came back and found a mess.

I thought I had SHB but they look different. If they are not SHB what are they? I'd ask my inspector but our inspector got the axe this year due to county cut backs.

I've never dealt with or seen in person SHB before. IF they are in fact SHB this is the first in my area that I know of and want to spread the warning.

Here are some pics:

http://i353.photobucket.com/albums/r381/Carriage_House_Farm/Bee%20Related/Pests/IMG_2979.jpg

http://i353.photobucket.com/albums/r381/Carriage_House_Farm/Bee%20Related/Pests/IMG_2980.jpg

http://i353.photobucket.com/albums/r381/Carriage_House_Farm/Bee%20Related/Pests/IMG_2981.jpg

http://i353.photobucket.com/albums/r381/Carriage_House_Farm/Bee%20Related/Pests/IMG_2983.jpg

Any help would rock.

[TwT]

I would say they are not SHB, SHB are black and those have tan spots on them and SHB's don't look slim like those do, they are a little more bulky, besides if it was SHB's your frame would probably be filled with larva and a complete mess before you notice them beetles, sometimes it only seems to take a day for explosion of larva to happen.

[mgmoore7]

Does not look like SHB to me and I have seen alot of them.

[gmcharlie]

they are not SHB... When i lived in Iowa we had billions of those on the farm... they bite also (humans) generaly found them in the dung piles (yes it was a farm) they will however eat about anything...... But no they are not typical SHB.....

(however that doesn't solve your issue)

I can't for the life of me remember the proper name.

[sqkcrk]

Yes, they aren't SHB. But I do think that you should get them IDed. You do still have State Inspectors, don't you? If not, collect a bunch and send them to the Beltsville Bee Lab, Beltsville, MD. They should be able to tell you what they are.

How far are you from Medina? Maybe Kim Flottum would like to know about these guys, er gals.

[Oldbee]

They could be 'picnic beetles' or in the family of 'sap beetles'; Nitidulidae, same as SHB. Note the 'mites',.lol. on the other photos.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/92172 Another photo: http://z.about.com/w/experts/Entomology-Study-Bugs-665/2008/11/Bug-Green-Cone.jpg

[Hambone]

Looks like a sap aka picnic beetle.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/174591

[gmcharlie]

Yup sap beetles.... We called em corn beetles.......




The two common sap beetle species observed in maize ears in the Midwest are the picnic beetle, Glischrochilus quadrisignatus (Say) and the dusky sap beetle, Carpophilus lugubris Murray. The wing covers of sap beetles (especially the dusky sap beetle) are relatively short and do not extend to the tip of the abdomen. Antennae have knobs at the tip (club-shaped) (figure, left). Eggs are laid singly and are milky-white and slender (sausage-shaped), resembling a house fly egg. The picnic beetle is a small, shiny, black beetle about 6 mm long with four irregular yellow or reddish spots on the back (figure, left). Larvae are white to cream colored with brown heads (figure, right). The dusky sap beetles are brown, drab looking beetles having no distinguishing marks, with short wing covers, and are about 3 mm long.

Biology and Life Cycle

The sap beetles may overwinter as larvae or as adults in decaying vegetation or fruit buried in the soil. In the spring, they emerge and lay their eggs on rotting vegetation. The sap beetles later lay eggs on the silks of maize ears. Females lay 5 to 15 eggs per day. Larvae feed until fully grown, then drop to the soil to pupate. The life cycle is about 30 days with apparently 2 or more generations per year, depending on location.

Damage

Sap beetle adults are scavengers (secondary pests) and breed in fermenting sap emanating from injuries produced by primary ear invaders, such as the corn earworm, European corn borer or western bean cutworm. Both adults and larvae are found on ears. Because sap beetles lay eggs in silks, the larvae that hatch and feed in the ear are suspected of being primary pests. Sap beetles may play a role in furthering the spread of rot organisms (molds) which also damage maize ears. On the positive side, there is some evidence that sap beetles may drive European corn borers from their tunnels in stalks. In any case, damage by sap beetles to ears of maize is slight.

[Tom G. Laury]

Well I can't understand the responses you got.
The first photo is unquestionably Small Hive Beetle. The distinguishing characteristic are the "horns". The slime and mess you see is the handiwork of the SHB larvae. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't know what they are talking about. The other bugs may be opportunists or incidental, but you have SHB.

[Oldbee]

I was going by the images of the beetles shown. Could you point out one area in all the photos where you definitely 'see' a SHB? Many other beetles similar to the SHB have horns on the antennae.

Thanks for pointing out the 'slime'; it may just be honey though.
Small hive beetle:
http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/index.cfm?event=site.image.detail&id=1691

"...some honey bee colonies in various Southeastern, Midwestern, and Northeastern states. The SHB appears to be primarily a pest of stored equipment—especially full honey supers awaiting extraction. In states where the beetle has become established, it has proved to be a problem in some areas while being of little consequence in other areas within the same state." http://www.honeybeelab.com/wiki/Fact_Sheet:Small_Hive_Beetles

***Durandal: Under the 'circumstances' you should double/triple check to see if those beetles [in photos] are there as 'opportunists' because essentially it's difficult to tell just from the photos. I don't see beetle [SHB] larvae. The uppermost beetle in the third photo doesn't have the orange markings/spots.

[Ross]

SHB.....
http://www.myoldtools.com/Bees/shb2.jpg

[gmcharlie]

***Durandal: I don't see beetle [SHB] larvae. The uppermost beetle in the third photo doesn't have the orange markings/spots.


THis type of beetle (from my past) does not always have spots(although I think the one you mention is upside down) they are longer and less round than SHB The spots can be white or yellow and I think they darken with age as larger beetles seem to be more yellowish......

Use to be a huge issue where I grew up (Iowa corn) the little buggers LOVE melons (cantalopes half devoured) and Bite Like teh dickens in july.......

[MapMan]

I agree with Oldbee - looks very much like "Picnic Beetles", "Sap Beetles", etc. (Glischrochilus faciatus (http://bugguide.net/node/view/92172)). Doesn't appear to resemble the SHB (http://www.ipmimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=5310053).

I notice that there are no bees in your pictures - is the frame from idle equipment, and the beetles have therefore taken up residence as scavengers?

MM

[MapMan]

Use to be a huge issue where I grew up (Iowa corn) the little buggers LOVE melons (cantalopes half devoured) and Bite Like teh dickens in july.......

We always found them (crunch) within the caps of ripe raspberries... :pinch:


MM

[gmcharlie]

Are they tasty> could have added a interesting texture to the melons.....

[Tom G. Laury]

Well, I suppose it's possible, maybe, I could POSSIBLY be wrong. :o

That slime and damage though...

[Hambone]

Well...Technically it is small, it is in a hive, and it is a beetle :)

I support ya Tom.

[sqkcrk]

Well I can't understand the responses you got.
The first photo is unquestionably Small Hive Beetle.

Tom, you are just wrong about this. SHBs don't have the coloration that you will see in the first photo. As to the slime. I imagine that lots of beetles make slime in their immature stages.

[DRUR]

Well, I suppose it's possible, maybe, I could POSSIBLY be wrong. :o

Tom:
I feel your pain:D, a few weeks ago I replied to a picture of a colony getting attacked by some very large bees. The optical illusions seemed to show that these big bees had pointed butts (not like the rounded butts of drones of course), so I assumed they were some type of hornet attacking the colony, turns out that apparently the colony had a virgin queen, and the "drones" were getting ready for the chase. Sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men are better left to the mice. I was also :o, I have seen to much of your right on advice not to respect it, keep up the good work.:thumbsup:

[cookstove]

Go to osu.edu.com ohio state university site , lot of info and pics

[copper287]

the first one looks like a shb.The other did not.But who could say its not unless its bee looked at good by someone.Looked like to me it was working in that comb like one.You don't have to do anything to them frams is but freeze them and you can put them on more bees to be cleaned up and used.Just freeze about 2 days. They will be alot of eggs on the frams. copper287

[justin]

i recently bought 50 colonies and lots of empty hives and supers to add to my measly 5 hives. since then i have seen varroa for the first time. i opened up an empty nuc that came with the equipment and about 10 of those things took off running. i was a little upset. i took it outside away from the other equipment, and away from my hives and opened it all up and came running to the computer. i decided that they were not shb and went back to work.

[Dr.Wax]

Unless SHB has mutated that is not SHB. At first glance they do look like a ringer (especially the club shaped antennae) but as others have pointed out they are too elongated ( see beetle on middle of frame second pic) and have what looks to be yellowish blotches of color mixed with the black. Adult SHB are totally black (the younger adults can have a reddish tone but it is uniform).

[DCH]

Durandal,

Like most of the folks have already said, they're not SHB. Though we're at the other end of the state from you, I've seen these little guys off and on in our hives for quite some time - not quite as many at once, though. Could be because we have various berry bushes near by and they're just wandering in. They've not ever done any damage so I can't comment on the "slimy" thing unless they just happen to be in some already-dripping honey?

We did get a small taste of SHB in one weak hive late last year. One of the folks out here (BjornBee, I think) said we were too far north to worry much about a bad infestation because of our winters. Sure enough, I haven't seen them return this year (yet). Not sure about SHB survivability in southern Ohio, though.

Cheers,
DCH