Differences in absconding between African and European honeybee subspecies facilitate invasion success of small hive beetles

Abstract

-Small hive beetle (SHB) is an invasive species in populations of European honeybee subspecies, but underlying reasons for SHB success are not well understood. African and European honeybee, Apis mellifera , subspecies differ in absconding, and small hive beetle, greater wax moth (GWM) and ants all can exploit abandoned nests. However, the impact of host absconding on SHB reproduction and the role of GWM and ants as competitors are not known. Here, we conducted a survey in South Africa, Australia and the USA to evaluate SHB and GWM reproduction and foraging by ants in abandoned honeybee colonies. While the impact of competing ants and GWM was not significant, the data show higher SHB reproduction in abandoned nests of European honeybees compared to African ones, but less for GWM. The positive correlation between abandoned protein sources (brood, pollen) on SHB reproduction suggests that the less efficient preparation for absconding by European honeybee subspecies combined with their large colony sizes is a key factor for the invasion success of SHB.ants / Apis mellifera / Aethina tumida / Galleria mellonella / small hive beetle

Global warming promotes biological invasion of a honey bee pest

“…The higher susceptibility of European honey bee subspecies is probably due to quantitative differences in a range of social immunity traits compared to the African ones (e.g. aggression; Elzen et al, , absconding [non‐reproductive swarming; Neumann et al, ] and social encapsulation of SHBs; Neumann et al, ).…”

Evolution of starvation resistance in an invasive insect species, Aethina tumida (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae)

“…Therefore, the results of this study should not be generalized. Indeed, for SHB, quantitative differences in behavior between European and African honey bee subspecies, enemy release, as well as novel alternative hosts (i.e., bumblebees in invasive ranges) may all contribute to SHB invasion success (Neumann & Elzen, 2004;Neumann et al, 2016Neumann et al, , 2018.…”

“…Moreover, honey bee workers incarcerate adult SHB in propolis prisons (Neumann et al, 2001). Colonies of European honey bee subspecies are less efficient in preparing for SHB-induced swarming (absconding) compared to African ones and are leaving ample protein food behind (Neumann et al, 2018). These results in striking differences by two orders of magnitude in SHB reproduction between abandoned nests of African and European honey bee subspecies (Neumann et al, 2018).…”

Keeping a low profile: small hive beetle reproduction in African honeybee colonies

“…However, SHB mass reproduction is extremely rare in colonies of African honeybee subspecies (Neumann, ). Moreover, SHB reproduction in abandoned nests of African honeybee subspecies is two orders of magnitude lower compared with nests of European ones (Neumann et al ., ). Alternatively, SHB cryptic low‐level reproduction in association with honeybees can also occur with only few larvae in the debris of colonies (Spiewok & Neumann, ) or underneath sealed honey frames (Neumann & Hoffmann, ).…”