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Varroa-Resistance in Argentinian Honey Bees selection. Percentage of damaged mites appears to be a reliable measure to enhance this behavior in honey bee colonies by selective breeding. Finally, the importance of improving and protecting locally adapted honey bee populations with natural Varroa resistance for regional apiculture is discussed.

Grooming behavior confers resistance to honey bees against Varroa destructor, being of interest to social immunity studies and breeding programs. The objective of this study was to characterize at the individual level the grooming behavior of mite-resistant (R) and susceptible (S) A. mellifera stocks from Argentina. Assays were performed in experimental arenas by applying two treatments to nurse bees: (1) placing a V. destructor mite on the bee's thorax and (2) touching the bee with a paintbrush. Grooming reactions were recorded on bees from both stocks at the ages of 6, 10, and 14 days after emergence. R bees exhibited lower time of first response against the mite, performed more cleaning attempts, and used all their legs with a higher probability compared to S bees. The same pattern was evident when younger and older bees from the R stock were compared. The results demonstrate that bee age and genetic origin are critical factors of grooming behavior in honey bees.

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Varroa destructor is one of the most devastating ectoparasites of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, worldwide. Given that V. destructor has very low survivability and exhibits no successful reproduction away from their natural environment and host and that the availability of mites for experimental purposes is limited by seasonality, several protocols of mite rearing under laboratory conditions have been developed. However, only one of these rearing systems has been able to yield a fertile second generation with a low mite survival. The aim of this study was to develop a semi-field rearing method to obtain mites of known age and life cycle that can be maintained through several generations. We registered and compared survival and reproductive parameters of mites of controlled age during four generations (P, F1, F2, F3) and evidenced no significant differences between these mite groups for these life-history traits. With present results we demonstrate that it is possible to successfully produce a third generation of mites under semi-field conditions. This study brings useful information about key conditions for the proper reproduction of mites in a controlled rearing system and provides a potential standardized method for V. destructor research, especially for host-parasite interaction experiments.