Uncapping activity of Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) towards worker brood cells infested with the mite Varroa destructor Anderson &amp; Treuman (Mesostigmata: Varroidae)

Moretto, Geraldo; Guerra, J. C.; Bittencourt, Carolina V.

doi:10.1590/s1519-566x2006000300002

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Moretto et al (1993) showed that Africanized bees show 38% cleaning capacity, while Italian bees only 5%. Moretto et al (2006) found that the daily rate of cells without operculum was 3.5 times greater in beehives infested with Varroa compared with non-infested beehives. This shows that Africanized bees have the ability to recognize and remove offspring naturally parasitized with the mite.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Genetic characterization of the mite Varroa destructor (Acari: Varroidae) collected from honey bees Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera, Apidae) in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Strapazzon¹,

Carneiro²,

Guerra³

et al. 2009

Genet. Mol. Res.

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ABSTRACT. The mite Varroa destructor is an ectoparasite that is considered a major pest for beekeeping with European honey bees. However, Africanized bee colonies are less threatened by this ectoparasite, because infestation levels remain low in these bees. The low reproductive ability of female mites of the Japanese biotype (J), introduced to Brazil early in the 1970s was initially considered the main factor for the lack of virulence of this parasite on Africanized bees. In other regions of the world where the Korean (K) biotype of this mite was introduced, there have been serious problems with Varroa due to the high reproductive potential of the mite. However, a significant increase in the reproductive rate of females of Varroa in Brazil has been recently demonstrated; the cause could be a change in the type of Varroa in the bee colonies. We evaluated the prevalence of haplotypes J and K in mite samples collected from the State of Santa Catarina and from the island of Fernando de Noronha in the State of Pernambuco. The analysis of the mitochondrial genome (PCR + RFLP) revealed haplotype K in all samples from Santa Catarina and haplotype J in all samples from Fernando de Noronha. The analysis of microsatellites (nuclear genome) in bees from Fernando de Noronha Varroa destrutor haplotypesshowed only the specific alleles of haplotype J, while in bees from Santa Catarina, these alleles were found in only 2.8% of the samples. The high frequency of individuals with Korean genetic material is probably to the reason for the current high reproductive capacity of the mite V. destructor recorded in Santa Catarina.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Genetic characterization of the mite Varroa destructor (Acari: Varroidae) collected from honey bees Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera, Apidae) in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Strapazzon¹,

Carneiro²,

Guerra³

et al. 2009

Genet. Mol. Res.

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“…Despite decades of research on the hygienic behaviour towards mite-infested brood (Boecking and Drescher, 1991;Moretto et al, 2006;Peng et al, 1987;Spivak, 1996), the situation has been and still is much more difficult with V. destructor because here two possible triggers are present in each infested brood cell: the ectoparasitic mite and the affected brood. It was suggested that reproduction of the parasitising mother mite in the capped cell influences the probability of detection and subsequent removal of infested brood (Harbo and Harris, 2005) but results of more recent studies do not support this notion Ibrahim et al, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for damage-dependent hygienic behaviour towards Varroa destructor-parasitised brood in the western honey bee, Apis mellifera

Schöning

Gisder

Geiselhardt

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYThe ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor and honey bee pathogenic viruses have been implicated in the recent demise of honey bee colonies. Several studies have shown that the combination of V. destructor and deformed wing virus (DWV) poses an especially serious threat to honey bee health. Mites transmitting virulent forms of DWV may cause fatal DWV infections in the developing bee, while pupae parasitised by mites not inducing or activating overt DWV infections may develop normally. Adult bees respond to brood diseases by removing affected brood. This hygienic behaviour is an essential part of the beesʼ immune response repertoire and is also shown towards mite-parasitised brood. However, it is still unclear whether the bees react towards the mite in the brood cell or rather towards the damage done to the brood. We hypothesised that the extent of mite-associated damage rather than the mere presence of parasitising mites triggers hygienic behaviour. Hygienic behaviour assays performed with mites differing in their potential to transmit overt DWV infections revealed that brood parasitised by ʻvirulentʼ mites (i.e. mites with a high potential to induce fatal DWV infections in parasitised pupae) were removed significantly more often than brood parasitised by ʻless virulentʼ mites (i.e. mites with a very low potential to induce overt DWV infections) or non-parasitised brood. Chemical analyses of brood odour profiles suggested that the bees recognise severely affected brood by olfactory cues. Our results suggest that bees show selective, damage-dependent hygienic behaviour, which may be an economic way for colonies to cope with mite infestation. Supplementary material available online at

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“…This was more frequently the case in the presence of adult A. cerana workers than in their absence, excluding an artifact of experimental infestation. This phenomenon could be due to a social immunity mechanism consisting in adult workers uncapping infested cells to remove V. destructor foundress mites and subsequently recapping these cells (Corrêa-Marques & De Jong, 1998;Moretto, Guerra, & Bittencourt, 2006;Oddie, Dahle, & Neumann, 2017;Rath & Drescher, 1990). As a result of parasite departure or removal from its reproduction site, remaining brood developed normally and was not removed by adult workers.…”

Section: Abnormal Development Of Infested Worker Brood Could Triggementioning

confidence: 99%

Reproduction of parasitic mites Varroa destructor in original and new honeybee hosts

Lin

Yao

Page

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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The ectoparasitic mite, Varroa destructor, shifted host from the eastern honeybee, Apis cerana, to the western honeybee, Apis mellifera. Whereas the original host survives infestations by this parasite, they are lethal to colonies of its new host. Here, we investigated a population of A. cerana naturally infested by the V. destructor Korea haplotype that gave rise to the globally invasive mite lineage. Our aim was to better characterize traits that allow for the survival of the original host to infestations by this particular mite haplotype. A known major trait of resistance is the lack of mite reproduction on worker brood in A. cerana. We show that this trait is neither due to a lack of host attractiveness nor of reproduction initiation by the parasite. However, successful mite reproduction was prevented by abnormal host development. Adult A. cerana workers recognized this state and removed hosts and parasites, which greatly affected the fitness of the parasite. These results confirm and complete previous observations of brood susceptibility to infestation in other honeybee host populations, provide new insights into the coevolution between hosts and parasites in this system, and may contribute to mitigating the large‐scale colony losses of A. mellifera due to V. destructor.

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Uncapping activity of Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) towards worker brood cells infested with the mite Varroa destructor Anderson & Treuman (Mesostigmata: Varroidae)

Cited by 5 publications

References 12 publications

Genetic characterization of the mite Varroa destructor (Acari: Varroidae) collected from honey bees Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera, Apidae) in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Genetic characterization of the mite Varroa destructor (Acari: Varroidae) collected from honey bees Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera, Apidae) in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Evidence for damage-dependent hygienic behaviour towards Varroa destructor-parasitised brood in the western honey bee, Apis mellifera

Reproduction of parasitic mites Varroa destructor in original and new honeybee hosts

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