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It has been said a honeybee hive provides an acceptable habitat for a wide diversity of mites; and that more than 86 species have been recorded in association with the different species of Apis and their nests.
It has been said that these mites can be scavengers in the beehive, mites that feed on other mites in the beehive, mites that catch rides of foraging bees to go from flower to flower and place to place, and finally mites that live on our honeybees and their brood.
We use various treatments on the last referenced mites above that live on our honeybees and their brood, to eradicate them, or at least bring their numbers down to acceptable levels.
But what about the other mites in a natural beneficial host relationship within our colonies? Has treatment caused imbalance, triggering other problems associated with them we should be aware of? How does this relate to diseases of honeybees both internal and external?
Regards
Dee A. Lusby
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I dont recall reading about any research on any beneficial relationship other mite species have with bees.After seeing the ravages of T and V mites I,like most,am of the opinion that the fewer mites of any species the better.Of course that may just be because we have no information.
Certainly chemical treatments will have an adverse effect on all mites,but we know they can never be eradicated this way.We just get a reprieve for a few years then the mites catch up.Eventually we will run out of chemicals.I believe our best hope is the wild bee tree where natural selection can take place without our influence.Meanwhile most of us have chosen to keep our bees alive any way possible and try to make selection without letting our bees crash.But
I do admire those few who have made that decision and wish them luck.
loggermike
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Hi Loggermike
I guess many beekeepers don't know about various other mite/bee relationships that our in our colonies.
Research has been done on several of these.
In Honey Bee Pests, Predators, and Diseases, it is noted that *Honey bees efficiently care for their brood cells and food-storage combs, and most of the interior wood surfaces of their nests are coated with propolis. However, the hive bottom is not given the same care.
Debris consisting of bits of old honeycomb and dead bees and fungi and other microbes that infest the detritus collect there and attract a wide variety of saprophagous mites, most belonging to the suborder Astigmata.
These scavenger mites are typically the most abundant mites in a beehive and may reach very high densities in the hive bottom; 350,000 mites per kilogram of litter have been recorded in beehives in the USSR.
These scavenger mites also occur in many other habitats, especially those that contain food resources concentrated by humans, so they are often called stored-product mites. Almost every stored-product mites species occasionally can be found in beehives.
Glycyphagus species are typically the most common scavenger mites in beehives.
Several genera of the family Acaridae have species that commonly invade beehives, rivaling in numbers the one just above.
The astigmatid mite occurs in foods with a HIGH SUGAR CONTENT THAT HAVE BEGUN TO FERMENT. In beehives, this occurs principally in stored pollen and old honeycomb, and can be a pest in stored honey.
In healthy colonies, scavenger mites do little or no damage, despite their abundance. Although they are capable of invading stored honey and pollen, rendering the food less suitable to the bees because of metabolic wastes and the mechanical transmission of fungi and bacteria. They are also potential allergens for humans and prolonged exposure may lead to allergic responses, including dermatitis, in beekeepers.
Normally, no control measures are recommended except for cleaning out the debris that collects in old beehives on boards especially after the winter.
I will stop for now and give you a chance to digest and study.
Yes, beekeepers there are several other mites in our colonies and with chemical treatments now a days, if they get out of control and natural balance what have we done to our colonies?
By not having normal scavenger mites on bottoms - QUESTION - have we now allowed the beetles to crawl in and take their place? filling a void that chemicals might have created? swaping mites for beetles???
Comments...
Dee A. Lusby
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Hello to all of you!
I just wrote a rather time consuming writ when it all went to pot because of an apparent conflict of the password.
The basics discussion here revolves mostly around the "good house keeping" feature of the colony, I.E. genetic
patterns,specifically as it applies to the bottom board and it's accumulation of junk.
It puzzles me why there is hardly any emphasis on screened bottom boards which aid the bees in removing debris, drop off varroa mites unable to overcome the distance to the colony , therefore reducing the propagation and ventilation . Not to mention the ease of inspecting without the undue disturbance of the colony. The bees most likely do not spent valuable time cleaning or ventilating with this design .A very good plan is available at this site under Plans among other useful features.Particularly does the time saving device applies to those climates where the effective nectar collection depends on a few weeks and not 6 months or more.
As far as Good house keeping is concerned may I present an anecdotal event which set me off to "bee having".
We collected kitchen refuse in a galvised trash can. The cover was a piece of warped mesonite.At that time My site of employment was 130 from our place.One weekend I found a swarm settled and glued combs beneath the cover of the can. In a hot climate garbage is the home of millions of critters of all description in addition to micro living things and fungi.There was about 1/2 can full of such debris . BUT, The bees had covered the whole area , the top of the garbage as well as the sides of the can with a translucent coating which one could call propolis of some sort.There was no odor nor anything resembling living creatures .In other words , it was sterilised.
At that time I hived the colony into aother container and eventually the colony absconded. the culprit were wax moths.I had not the slightest notion of bee keeping. It motivated me then to start having bees. One colony only because of city ordinances.And now I try to be a "beekeeper".
JDF
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Hi to all,
Since the topic is mites and honeybees I thought I would post here. I hope it is ok to enter some different ideas here. If not please let me know.
I read in the Nov. issue of american bee journal an article by Marla Spivak called Preventative Antibiotic Treatments for Honey bee Colonies. I applaud Spivak's questioning of using terramycin as a prophylactic for AFB. The part I don't understand is when she says to burn combs in a colony that has AFB. Did I not read somewhere that simply melting the combs into wax will rid it of AFB? Why would she say to burn the combs?
Also, how do hygienic bees make a difference in the fight against varroa? If bees are grooming themselves of mites, where do the groomed mites go? What about the mites in the cells? I just don't follow the idea behind hygienic bees. Can someone explain?
Lee
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Lee posted on 10-30-2000, 12:42AM some very good comments concerning an article he read written by Marla Spivak in the November issue of the American Bee Journal.
Lee wrote: “The part I don’t understand is when she says to burn combs in a colony that has AFB. Did I not read somewhere that simply melting the combs into wax will rid it of AFB? Why would she say to burn the combs?”
Reply:
Well, Lee, since we ourselves do not burn combs, and instead render the combs into processed wax cakes which we then render into our own foundation, I must say you have an excellent question here.
Even Jerry Hayes in his Classroom, question and answer section of the American Bee Journal, has said in the past, that rendering old combs into wax is sufficient for taking care of the matter concerning AFB. One would assume this to include old comb rendered either in solar wax melters or hot water-bathing for pressing of wax under water for retrevel. The end product of rendered was is quite suitable for foundation making and/or candles.
Perhaps she is recommending the process because she feels beekeepers let the old combs, once pulled that are contaminated,lay around before rendering. This would be a bad situation if robbing bees, then looking for small quantities of stored honey and pollen, would take contaminated stores back; and infest other hives thus spreading disease.
Properly rendered old combs and the end slum, properly disposed of is not a problem. I have know even Dr Eric Erickson, of the Tucson bee lab, to recommend the slum with the wax removed to be suitable for fertilizer for use in ones garden for growing plants as it is high in nutrients plants need for growth.
Lee then went on to write: “Also, how do hygienic bees make a difference in the fight against varroa? If bees are grooming themselves of mites, where do the groomed mites go? What about the mites in the cells? I just don’t follow the idea behind hygienic bees. Can someone explain?”
Reply:
Well, Lee, these questions here certainly make one think!
On the plus side, I guess one could say that bees that clean out secondary diseases help in the fight against varroa, but technically, good grooming behaviour has nothing to do with keeping mites under control and thus reproducing in broodcells of either workers or drones.
Many beekeepers want very much for a harmonious relationship between varroa and honeybees, with a stable mite count, yet with treatments to be applied, as required to achieve same, which would on the other hand be indicative of a non-harmonious relationship in progress. You cannot have both at the same time. You can have one or the other.
Good grooming does not stop mite reproduction in brood cells. This is a fact of life! Further, sick bees do not groom well. Also overly big bees do not groom well. To relate, itÂ’s kind of like having a big fat dog. A big fat dog cannot get itÂ’s paws to groom a tick off of the center of its back. ItÂ’s owner must do it for him. ItÂ’s a consequence of domestication and a diet the dog would not be on in the wild. Also in the wild, the dog would be fit and trim, or soon perish under laws of survival of the fittist to live and eat. Now a small trim, lean dog can scratch a tick off of the center of itÂ’s back and also bit there, something else a fat dog cannot do.
So how does this relate to varroa and bees. Well, early on with scientists it was decided to name mites according to where they were found and fed concerning honeybees. Also, since they tend to remain and rego to these same spots once they get in the habit, and our microscopes are now getting better, we are classifying them more closely and breaking the mites out into more of these subgroups.
Early on we just had head,neck, back, and wing mites on the bodies of bees. Then we found mites in the brood cells, on bottom boards, and even in pollen and honey cells. We even found mites eating other mites. There is a vast parasitic host relationship, that takes place in a beehive, that beekeepers need to be aware of. But for now letÂ’s keep to the varroa mites. Also to keep it simple we will just talk basic concepts.
Grooming hygienic behaviour has nothing to do with mites reproducing in brood during the active season which is killing many colonies. Grooming behaviour here has to do with grooming mites off the bodies of the bees themselves.
Now drones donÂ’t really groom. They let the workerbees do it for them. Now in grooming varroa mites off of the bodies of bees, you are not grooming cells. These are two distinct areas and two different types of varroa mites technically, named by point of infestation. However, in offseason this is not so. You end up with both varroa mite types on the backs of our honeybees trying to survive in what is called a phoretic state. Mites from honeybee brood cells have to go some place to survive when bees are not actively raising brood, either worker or drone or both. They therefore go to the backs of our honeybees to survive.
Now this is where good grooming comes into play and good hygienic bees are supposed to their job. But there are limitations. The mites survive by burrowing in under the tergits/segments of the bees abdomen and then sink their mouth parts and suck the bees blood for nourishment.
Now true head, neck, back and wing mites already live on the bodies of our honeybees and have done so for years and been documented doing so back before 1917 in archives of the USDA by our scientists. Of course it is now open to debate they are merely simply being renamed, like our foulbroods have recently been reclassified as science progresses.
Concerning the the mites reproducing in worker and drone brood. Now in my mind, since varroa reproduction takes place during the active year in the broodnest most beekeepers are afraid of and now treating to control, to keep their colonies from collapsing and dying; and where inside technically grooming does not take palce for numbers increase, because phoretic female mites only feed on the bodies of honeybees and it is where where they are groomed off, I do not see grooming behaviour to be on much benefit for successful solution to the mite problem for varroa mites breeding and reproducing inside of brood cells of both workers and drones.
Something else therefore has to take place to bring the reproduction of these mites back into harmony for a harmonious parasitic host relationship to exist between the bees and the mites.
Now considering what man himself has done with beekeeping during the course of the last 100 years or so for trying to create a superior honeybee for gathering more honey, then we as an industry should logically assume that it is something beekeepers did (man assisted) to create todayÂ’s present situation?
This is also where replacing bees back onto comb sizes used prior to our mite problems surfacing as major crises worldwide comes into play. That is going back to a time with comb size prior to problems of parasitic mites and secondary diseases.
Basically, itÂ’s following cause and effect backwards to correct the problem.
Now I donÂ’t know if I have helped or hindered you Lee with the answers you seek to your questions, or I have now given you concern to ask even more questions,but if you want to read more on going back to natural biological beekeeping and sizing down/retrogressing back onto combs used prior to our now present day problems, to correct the current situation with our bees, please feel free to do so at:
http://www.beesource.com/pov/lusby at www.beesource.com
More comments soliciated from readers to keep the discussion going..........
Dee A. Lusby
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Dee,your analogy about fat dogs and fat bees was really funny!Ive been a bear hunter for many years and know the small skinny tough dogs are the best.But I always liked the looks of big fat bees!Your information on other hive mites is appreciated and creates questions such as:Has anyone ever found a parasitic mite for varroa or tracheal mites?Could such a mite be raised artificially and released in the hive with hope of having a balanced relationship?
As for burning instead of rendering the wax I think you were right that the recommendation was being cautious.Especially since Ive been hearing reports of Terra resistant AFB rampant in some outfits.The commonsence recommendation has always been that if you were using TM for prevention,and you then found AFB in a hive ,you might have a resistant strain so that hive should be burned to stop the spread.It appears that we are now beyond stopping it and new strategies will have to be enacted pronto.A new antibiotic is about to get approval,but I think those who are developing their hygienic traits are on the right track for long term survival.
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Hiya Dee,
You're gonna wish you could groom me off in a while I'm sure! April 4 1992 is claimed to be the first day a varroa mite was discovered in England. Other mites are documented prior to this. From South Devon it spread rapidly throughout the country and really devasted UK colonies in 95 96 and 97. If the causes are historical what changed in 92? Surely it doesn't take 100yrs for a reaction to our management errors to show up?
Relatively few hobby beekeepers used any chemicals prior to varroa (this is hearsay from older beekeepers, but I'm sure we could get figures)This is partly why UK beekeepers would rather not treat.
Regards
John
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John writes: "If the causes are historical what changed in 92? Surely it doesn't take 100yrs for a reaction to our management errors to show up?
Actually this might not be so surprising a relationship. The errors in management, in themselves, did not hurt the bees. In themselves, they might not even have weakened them. What they would have done is make the bees less able to deal with new situations. Management errors that would make the bees immediately more susceptible to something in their environment would probably show up quickly and be abandoned. On the other hand, management practices could easily weaken defenses that we don't know the bees could use because the bees haven't been dependent on them yet. Thus, having artificially-enlarged bees may not be a problem until a new challenge is introduced like the mites. We have taken away size-dependent defenses that bees elsewhere always living with the mites use to survive (and done a number of things including telling them where in their hives to raise brood, how many neighbors they'll have, etc.). We just didn't realize it until they were needed; but since the problems arose so long after the changes, it's hard to figure out what defenses are needed.
One analogy I can think of is HIV/AIDS. The HIV virus itself isn't so bad. The acute infection is sort of like a bad flu. What kills people is usually the infections like cryptococcus and others. Your defenses are decreased for quite some time, but it's not until you're challenged with the new disease that the weakness manifests itself. With HIV we're lucky to have a causitive agent that can be identified that we can point a finger at. But of course there are many more ways of weakening a body's defenses than just viruses - which weakness will cause problems how is something that will depend on the environment and challenges experienced.
A side note on hygienic vs grooming behavior: we need to keep in mind that the technical term 'hygienic' regarding bees refers to two traits -- uncapping diseased brood, and removing the diseased brood. Grooming behavior, while desireable and clean and all, isn't what is referred to by "hygienic" behavior and is a separately controlled trait. Both could conceivably be helpful in controlling varroa: grooming will remove mites and damage them either killing them outright or making it less likely they'll be able to re-parasitize. Removing brood will interrupt the breeding cycle of the varroa, and while not necessarily killing the mother, will at least curtail her ability to produce more daughters at that point. Just don't expect those special hygienic bees you buy to necessarily be good groomers. 
Don
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This is in reply to Loggermike's post of 14 Nov 2000, at 12:11 PM
Mike's post said:
Your information on other hive mites is appreciated and creates questions such as: Has anyone ever found a parasitic mite for varroa or trachael mites? Could such a mite be raised artificially and released in the hive with hope of having a balanced relationship?
Reply:
I don't think so, for if one had been found, I'm sure we would of heard about it by now. Further, I doubt that man has ever raised anything artificially in the animal kingdom, successfully, to counterbalance any pest or predator in nature, without making an even greater mess of the problem at hand.
Someone correct me here if I am wrong, but I think not!
Mike then goes on talking about AFB and says:
It appears that we are now beyond stopping it and new strategies will have to be enacted pronto. A new antibiotic is about to get approval, but I think those who are developing their hygienic traits are on the right track for long term survival.
Reply:
This in a way answers the first question, in that you too believe, that the bees themselves are the best way to naturally control the problem of trachael and varroa mites, if given a chance.
I myself feel this is best done by placing our honeybees back onto a natural beekeeping system again, mimicing nature, relative to proper broodcell size again, natural diet of honey and pollen, and let them fight their own diseases with natural propolis.
In nature, happy, healthy bees are strong and without chemicals placed into hives by man, there should be no imbalance of parasitic host relationships, and therefore no problems.
But the big question is....Can man do that?
Comments...more input....ideas?
Dee A. Lusby
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We have talked a little about scavenger mites, so now let's talk a little about predatory mites since loggermike brought up the subject.
Also something to think about, to those reading, Question: How many have treated for mites seeing mites and assumed they were trachael or varroa mites? What if they were just other mites? Did you check?
Now that you have treated and unbalanced your hive, I bet you really do have a problem......Comments any one?
But to continue:
Predatory mites:
Many species of mites that prey on the scavenger mites occur in the hive debris. With few exceptions, these mites are not specialized for living in beehives, but occur in the habitats where their prey, the stored-product mites, occur. Most predatory mites in beehives belong to the suborder Mesostigmata; they are fast-moving mites with dark plates on the dorsum and venter of their relatively flattened bodies.
Many are large enough to be seen with the naked eye and may therefore be the most readily observed mites in a beehive (and mistaken for something else by a beekeeper). Although they are relatives of the important honey bee parasites Tropilaelaps and Varroa, the predatory mesostigmatid mites do not harm honey bees or their brood (again are beekeepers sure what they are treating?)
Many species of predatory mites may incidentally occur in beehives. Among the more frequently encountered predatory mites are species in the families Ascidae, Macrochelidae, and Parasitidae. In contrast to these generalist predators, Melittiphis alvearius, family Laelapidae, is known only from hives of Apis mellifera. It has been collected in small numbers in Europe and New Zealand and has recently been found in California, USA. It is presumed, on the basis of its morphology, to be a predator on other arthropods in beehives, although its feeding behavior has never been observed directly.
The other predatory mites found in beehives belong to the suborder of Prostigmata and are associated with stored grain.
Food for thought...know what you are looking at, especially since some of these are related to varroa!
Dee A. Lusby
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To All.At the Apimondia 1999 there was some information relative to burning of combs affected by AFB.
Apart from treating the wood with lye,Chlorox, Paraffin ect .
It was found that the woodware be heated for 10 minutes to 260 degrees F will kill the spores of AFB. Paraffin was mentioned as the heated element. ( Who can Afford it?).Combs? has anyone heated wax to 260 deg? If Dee uses the wax rendered without such temperatures and has no incident of AFB ,then I can accept the method and not worry about it until proven different.
I do not prophylactically treat for AFB unless it occures.
Every day something new !!!
Thanks Dee for your informative talk on mites ,beneficial or otherwise.
The lesson to be learned is : Do not try to manipulate Mother Nature with "Introductions".We had enough of that with bad results.
JDF
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This is in response to Juandefuca's post of 12-03-2000 at 03:58 PM
Juandefuca wrote:
If Dee uses the wax rendered without such temperatures and has no incident of AFB ,then I can accept the method and not worry about it until proven different.
Reply:
Well Juandefuca to add strength to the above statement please reference from "Beekeeping" by eckert and Shaw, 1960 concerning devices using hot water, steam and pressure that even sllumgum from efficient wax extraction devices will destroy American foulbrood spores; however, slumgum from solar wax melters may still contain viable spores. Though it is not attractive to bees, slumgum from solar melters should be destroyed.
We however go further in our operation Juandefuca. We take our slumgum from our solar wax melter and reprocess it thorugh out hot water wax press extraction device (Kelly wax press) to make sure we will have not American foulbrood problems with our homemade beeswax foundation.
Just to let you and others know where our thoughts are coming from and why we do things a certain way.
Thank you for your excellent comments. Keep them coming!!
Very best regards,
Dee
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I think it is about time to start a discussion on varroa mites in 'general' without various names being attached to it, depending upon the point of infestation, as is the custom, i.e. if on the body of the bee one name is used,vs. if in the broodcell, another name is used. I think this will allow beekeepers to talk basics better for understanding of the problem.
To start then:
It was written early on in the 1980s that researchers were able to show that mite reproduction hinges on the physiological condition of infested honeybee larvae inside a bee cell.
Thus, the juvenile hormone titer in the blood of the honeybee prepupa dictates whether the female mite initiates egg laying after the first blood meal. In the Western honeybee, A. mellifera, the blood of both the drone and worker larvae has a relatively high juvenile hormone titer at the time when the cell of the developing larva is capped. In the Esern honey bee, A. cerana, the worker larva has a relatively low hormone titer in the blood at the period of cell capping which is also the period for mite entry into the cell. Since the drone prepupa of A. cerana, however, has its highest blood hormone level at this period, the mite selects it as its host.
Now since our European bees for the most part are on artificially enlarged foundation, reducing the foundation to the size equivalent for A. cerana and also original size of feral European races of bees, this step then drastically reduces mites from entering and reproducing in our domesticated european honeybees worker cells, just like with A. cerana worker cells.
Dr Ruttner wrote in 1986 that the Eastern honeybee, Apis cerana, and the Western honey bee, Apis mellifera, are actually closely related. The assumption that A. cerana is always smaller than A. mellifera is incorrect. These species show a considerable overlap in size, and the northern types of both species are usually larger than those in the south.
Without chemical treatments, with an infestation of less than 6 mites, honey bees usually succeed in reching maturity. The developing mites, therefore, also reach maturity. Higher infestations may result in the death of the bee(with an increasing mite load (6-8 mites) up to approximately 25% loss of weight was evident).
Any comments from readers so far? I will continue in a few days.
Regards:
Dee
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Any comments from readers so far? I will continue in a few days.
Regards:
Dee[/B][/QUOTE]
Thank you Dee...keep it coming!
John Sewell
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Well, John says to keep it coming with basic information on mites that everyone should know, so here goes:
Alfred Dietz has written about many basic traits of varroa mites, so continuing, here's more (please note - relate this to hives without chemicals in my POV):
The longevity of female mites during the brood-rearing periods is perhaps similar to those of adult bees, roughly 4-8 weeks, although others have written that female mites that have hatched during the summer period can live 2-3 months (and can go into and out of several worker brood capped cell cycles trying to reproduce) During the fall, or broodless periods, females may live for 5 to 8 months (phoretic state- living on the bodies of the bees themselves, sucking bee blood for food, and non-reproducing). Others have written than the life span of mites during the winter is 6-8 months. Females overwinter on adult bees, periodically feeding through the soft intersegmental membranes of the first two gastral segments.
In the absence of adult bees and brood, mites are unable to live for more than 5 days. In a comb with sealed brood kept at room temperature (20C) mites were able to live up to 30 days. (We compare this to absconded colonies where beekeepers come in and find brood still waiting to hatch and then absorb the equipment up by placing it upon another colony, thinking the mites are gone and dead after 5 days, this is incorrect thinking, because the brood available is still a food source whether open or not and the mites will continue to feed until all gone. We ourselves have notice mites still feeding up to 2 months later, so beware in taking up equipment from deadouts.)
Comments anyone about what you have seen in the field in a similar vein!
Will continue in a few more days on varroa mite general basics to know.
Dee
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I once researched ticks found on dogs. I was curious why my dog got very few ticks while walking through the woods. If I walked along a road, he was loaded with ticks. Believe it or not, I found ticks are attracted to the edge of a road. The ticks were marked and moved away from the edge and they would come back. They talked about movement of cars and people attracting the ticks. They also talked about exhaust gas being an attractant. The reason for this was the ticks have an infrared sensor. The exhaust causing the air to be warmer and also the road being warmer because of the sun. They then stated in only one sentence, that varroa mites also have an infrared sensor.
I did not know this or have I read about it anywhere. Is this true?
forrest zielke
ashland, ma USA
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Forest posted 16-01-2001, 08:52AM the following, which he came accross while researching information on ticks on dogs.
"They then stated in only one sentence, that varroa mites also have an infrared sensor.
I did not know this or have I read about it anywhere. Is this true?"
forrest zielke
Well forrest, to be honest with you I really do not know. I have looked through all the books I have on mites and cannot find reference to it, but that does not mean it isn't there.
But, I do know in reading that varroa in general, even with A. cerena bees only seem to reproduce in drone brood. But you must think about it and circumstances for parallel here.
What I am now generalizing is my POV. Bees are cold blooded individually, but as a group behave warm blooded in many ways. It is known that they will not reproduce in worker brood, which technically is the warmest part of the broodnest, and fat does not really generate heat, rather it's the flexing of the muscle that does. But the preference is for drones in real nature.
The only parallel I see to you tick story is the fact that you talk about the side of the road for greater ticks and drones naturally occur in both A cerana and A mellifera at the side of the broodnest, mainly either above or to the sides, from there they radiate in reproducing as populations expand.
So what I would ask, is what is different to the sides of the broodnest, that makes bees place dronebrood there? Possibly a natural defense stratagety inherent within, we know nothing about, with built in triggers for trapment i.e. growth hormone, more food, body position relative to heat as you have brought up,(as too much heat deters also).
Perhaps drones play more a role in hive defense then most of us think, besides insuring reproduction. Maybe they defend by giving of their lives in a wall of defense as first targets for disease and parasites, etc.
Any more comments on this? Very interesting observation, Forrest. Definitely something to ponder.
Dee
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More basics on varroa mites to ponder:
While the longer postcapping period for European honeoy bees is sufficient for 100% of the capped cells to produce at least one mite as progeny, only 21% of the mites in the Cape honey bee produce even a single offspring. These results show that the European honey bee is a good host for mite productivity while the Cape honey bee is not. Also interesting to note is that in S. Africa comb foundation of 4.8mm and 4.9mm is used.(similar to 4.9mm foundation being used in Brazil!).
Al Dietz, has written that while colonies may sometimes be quickly affected by this mite, several years may pass from the time varroa enters a colony until the colony succumbs. In the meantime, nurerous mites may be carried to other colonies.(drift)
Heavily infested colonies become weak at the end of the summer and during autumn because of adult bee losses.Most colonies become defunct in the autumn (crash) due to adult bee population losses and poor brood production, although food stores may be sufficient.Lightly infested colonies perish chiefly in the second half of the winter. Roughly 3-19% of the mites die during the winter and spring (Weiss,1984; Rademacher and Geiseler, 1986).
Colonies in temperate zones seriously suffer from infestation (Dietz,1986). Without treatment, there may be a 10-15% mortality during the first year, a 20-30% mortality the second year, and the third or fourth year may show a colony mortality rate of 100%. From the outset of an infestation to the death of a colony, a period of 3-5 years is necessary (Weiss,1984; Rademacher and Geiseler,1986). (Note: In my POV the bigger the artificial comb size, the faster the crash by pseudo drone effect - that is your worker brood being eaten up).
Regards for now.
Dee
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