Deadly parasite turns honeybees into zombie slaves

[nabeehive]

Here is a new study on the cause of CCD.

http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_19666381

Enjoy,

[Vance G]

It could be a cause in some places I guess of colony losses, but I doubt it is the Eureka moment. Would be a hard one to fight.

[mike haney]

could we have a synopsis for those of us on dial-up? by the way: thanks ,vance for the package. i never forget a favor.

[squarepeg]

great post michaeal. maybe an important piece to the puzzle there. thanks for sharing the link.

[Honey-4-All]

Looks like we get to add a new name to our every increasing list of bee friends. Varroa, nosema, foulbroud, and now Apocephalus borealis


see


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45862883.../#.TwPwFdRWrjs


and


http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sec...ent&id=8489491

[Andrew Dewey]

On Yahoo today: http://news.yahoo.com/zombie-fly-par...230200867.html

[Acebird]

http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-20...9.archive.html

CATCH THE BUZZ
Phorid Fly Found Killing Honey Bees
Alan Harman
A new threat to honey bees and perhaps, a partial explanation for colony collapse disorder has been uncovered at Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Entomologist Dr. Brian Brown says the pest is the tiny but dangerous phorid fly, which may pose an emerging threat to North American beekeeping.
It is the first documentation that the phorid fly Apocephalus borealis, previously known to only parasitize bumble bees, also infects and eventually kills honey bees – by leading them to abandon their hives at night.
Brown, a world authority on phorid flies, has received reports of nighttime bee activity in Los Angeles.
“It seems to be concentrated near the coast, which is where our collecting has also encountered the flies,” he says.
Contributors to a report on the research included Andrew Core, Charles Runckel, Jonathan Ivers, Christopher Quock, Travis Siapno, Seraphina DeNault, Joseph DeRisi, and John Hafernik from the San Francisco State University Brown and his colleagues say they have proof that parasitized honey bees show hive abandonment behavior, leaving their hives at night and dying shortly thereafter.
On average, seven days later, up to 13 phorid larvae emerge from each dead bee and pupate away from the bee. Using DNA barcoding, the authors confirmed the phorids that emerged from honey bees and bumble bees were the same species.
The researchers say understanding details of phorid infection may shed light on similar hive abandonment behaviors seen in CCD. Further, knowledge of this parasite could help prevent its spread into regions of the world where naïve hosts may be easily susceptible to attack.

OOPs Monsanto's got a new target.

[lcl]

Interesting article about another possible cause for the CCD...

http://news.yahoo.com/zombie-fly-par...230200867.html

LCL

[Gypsi]

It says I cannot rate closed threads. This article is very very eye-opening! I was going to give it 5 stars

[Louise I. Lynch]

Below is the link for the research publication (pdf file) about this parasitic phorid fly. It's out of San Francisco State University- an interesting article worth the read.

Apocephalus borealis

[WillH]

I just received this email regarding a fly parasite spotted in honey bees. May be this has been already posted somewhere. Otherwise this may be of interest to beekeepers.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-dfp122011.php

[The Soap Pixie]

Any thoughts on this parasitic fly that they say could explain CCD? If this has already been talked about on here please let me know and I'll do a search, I'd like to read what experienced beekeepers think about this and how new this info is. Sorry if this is a duplicate post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...naP_story.html

[Corvair68]

I would think this to be very bad news for west coast package and nuc suppliers.

[FlowerPlanter]

"Hafernik stumbled onto the parasitic fly by accident. Three years ago", ok, what have they been doing the last 3 years???

While they were sitting on this the worlds honey bees were at risk, when others around the world could have been working it.

Why bring it out now like it's the breaking news? According to their own news story this is old info.
Or are they talking out there stinger and this fly has nothing to do with nothing.

[Gypsi]

I don't know much about commercial pollination, but I would not be wanting to haul my bees to California. They've been sitting on it, trying not to cause a panic, for 3 years. Now Monsanto has bought Beelogics? (sp) And all of a sudden the story comes out?

[JBJ]

I would tend to agree with Dr Mussen's position that this will turn out to only be an incidental pest. The sample size in the original study was something like 31 hives, not a statistically significant sample in my opinion. This definitely warrants further study and surveys for the flies presence. The last thing we need is another challenge in beekeeping. From what I understand this should be an easy on to screen for. Workers can be collected, put into a clean closed container, and then incubated for the appropriate period. I have been told by some who have seen this fly that it is best to collect workers at night in true zombie fashion, and that it is more likely to be in the bees that will be inclined to fly at night towards light and have no interest in returning to the hive.

Most definitely a survey protocol needs to be developed and the bee population at large screened so we can get a handle on the population distribution of this pest.

Please look for it in your bees ASAP!

[Supertad]

Here's the link to actual study...

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%...ary+Biology%29

Pulled out a couple paragraphs...

Threat

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If these flies have or can gain the ability to reproduce within hives they could greatly increase their population size and levels of virulence. Moreover, hundreds and sometimes thousands of commercial honey bee colonies are often found in close proximity to one another in agricultural areas. Such high host density might lead to population explosions of the fly and major impacts on the hives they parasitize. Further, A. borealis is already widely distributed across North America

--

Furthermore, the domestic honey bee is potentially A. borealis' ticket to global invasion. Establishment of A. borealis on other continents, where its lineage does not occur, where host bees are particularly naïve, and where further host shifts could take place, could have negative implications for worldwide agriculture and for biodiversity of non-North American wasps and bees.

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Actions

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Additional studies of the distribution and frequency of phorid parasitism of honey bees in North America are needed to assess the scope of this phenomenon and to detect if it is expanding to other areas or is already widespread. The easiest way to monitor nocturnal abandonment of hives is to place light traps nearby and then monitor trapped bees for emergence of phorid larvae. We hope that our study and methods will enable professional and amateur beekeepers to collect vital samples of bees that leave the hive at night, in order to determine if these bees are parasitized by phorids.

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Possible Cause

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http://web.biosci.utexas.edu/fireant/FAQ.html
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[Rick 1456]

Is this old or something new ? New to me but no surprise there. Just thought I'd share for discussion if need be

[dragonfly]

One of my buds from an airgunning forum told me about it too. I googled the subject and found a fairly good article, with some other links of interest:

http://www.earthtimes.org/nature/hon...parasite/1735/

[dragonfly]

Here's a link to another article, with a couple of links of interest included:
http://www.earthtimes.org/nature/hon...parasite/1735/