Active defense against Varroa mites in a Carniolan strain of honeybee (Apis mellifera carnica Pollmann)

Beobachtungen zum Auftreten beschädigter Varroamilben im natürlichen Totenfall bei Völkern von Apis mellifera carnica

“…These findings were confirmed by Ruttner (1991) and Ruttner and Hänel (1992). In the present study the incidence of damaged mites was recorded in 111 colonies of Apis mellifera carnica at 4 locations in lower Austria from 18th August-18th September 1991.…”

Damaged Varroa mites in the debris of honey bee (Apis mellifera L) colonies with and without hatching brood

“…Meanwhile, recent discussion of selecting honey bees tolerant to Varroa has concentrated on three parameters: i) the control of mite fertility by host factors (Ruttner et al, 1984;Rosenkranz et al, 1993;Rosenkranz and Engels, 1994;Eguaras et al, 1994Eguaras et al, , 1995Anderson, 1994); ii) specific hygienic behaviour performed by removal of mites from infested brood cells (Boecking and Drescher 1992); and iii) grooming of parasitized adult bees (Delfinado-Baker et al, 1992; Ruttner and Hänel, 1992). Such adaptations are also described from the original host, Apis cerana in Asia and from the Africanized Apis mellifera hybrids from South America (Camazine, 1986;Büchler et al, 1992;Rosenkranz et al, 1993;Moretto et al, 1993), the only well-documented cases of natural and long-lasting Varroa tolerance in A mellifera.…”

“…It has been demonstrated that honey bees are able to kill and injure Varroa females (Ruttner and Hänel, 1992) (Moosbeckhofer, 1992;Büchler, 1993;Wallner, 1994). However, it is still unknown to what degree an enhanced grooming behaviour contributes to a balanced host-parasite relationship (Fries et al, 1996) ('control') In this group the queens were not caged.…”

Relative effect of four characteristics that restrain the population growth of the mite Varroa destructor in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies

“…Grooming behavior has been measured with indirect methods in A. mellifera, but was observed at a lower frequency than in A. cerana (Morse et al, 1991;Ruttner and Hänel, 1992;Boecking et al, 1993;Rosenkranz et al, 1997;Bienefeld et al, 1999). There are reports of mites that apparently were injured by worker bees with their mandibles (Wallner, 1990;Morse et al, 1991;Moosbeckhofer, 1992;Ruttner and Hänel, 1992;Boecking et al, 1993;Moretto et al, 1993;Rosenkranz et al, 1997).…”