Large Hive Beetles: An Emerging Serious Honey Bee Pest in the Coastal Highlands of Kenya

Wambua, Benedict M.; Muli, Elliud; Kilonzo, Joseph; Ng’ang’a, James; Kanui, Titus I.; Muli, Benjamin K.

doi:10.1080/0005772x.2019.1568355

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Such results are compatible with the absence of LHB from the Kalahari Desert and dry areas in Botswana [ 70 ]. The occurrence of these beetles throughout coastal regions is supported by previous observations in Kenya [ 37 , 71 ]. Generally, all the maps show a potential future expansion of LHB towards the north.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Modeling the Invasion of the Large Hive Beetle, Oplostomusfuligineus, into North Africa and South Europe under a Changing Climate

Abou‐Shaara

Al-Ashaal

Hosni

et al. 2021

Insects

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Some beetle species can attack honeybee colonies, causing severe damage to beekeeping. These pests include Oplostomus fuligineus, which is also known as the Large Hive Beetle (LHB). This beetle is native to Sub-Saharan Africa and has recently also been recorded in some parts of North Africa. It feeds mainly on young bee larvae and stored food within the colonies, causing severe damage to weak colonies. The present work sheds light on the current and future distribution (from 2050 to 2070) of this beetle in Africa and South Europe using species distribution modeling. Maxent was used to model the invasion of LHB. The Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) 126 and 585 were used to model the future distribution of LHB. The Maxent models showed satisfactory results with a high Area Under Curve (AUC) value (0.85 ± 0.02). Furthermore, the True Skill Statistics (TSS) value was equal to 0.87. The current and future maps showed a high risk of invasion because of temperature variation in most of the parts of North Africa and South Europe. The maps also predicted the future invasion of LHB into other countries, mainly through southern Europe. These predictive risk maps will help quarantine authorities in highly relevant countries to prevent the expansion of this pest outside of its natural range.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Modeling the Invasion of the Large Hive Beetle, Oplostomusfuligineus, into North Africa and South Europe under a Changing Climate

Abou‐Shaara

Al-Ashaal

Hosni

et al. 2021

Insects

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“…These beetles have been reported to cause significant damage to colonies by chewing on the comb, brood, honey, and pollen (Oldroyd and Allsopp 2017, Wambua et al. 2019). Further, a study by Makori (2017) showed that honey bee pests occurred more in areas with higher proportion of natural vegetation, which is in agreement with our observation in this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fragmented landscapes affect honey bee colony strength at diverse spatial scales in agroecological landscapes in Kenya

Ochungo

Veldtman

Abdel‐Rahman

et al. 2021

Ecological Applications

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Landscape fragmentation and habitat loss at multiple scales directly affect species abundance, diversity, and productivity. There is a paucity of information about the effect of the landscape structure and diversity on honey bee colony strength in Africa. Here, we present new insights into the relationship between landscape metrics such as patch size, shape, connectivity, composition, and configuration and honey bee (Apis mellifera) colony strength characteristics. Remote-sensing-based landscape variables were linked to honey bee colony strength variables in a typical highly fragmented smallholder agroecological region in Kenya. We examined colonies in six sites with varying degrees of land degradation during the period from 2017 to 2018. Landscape structure was first mapped using medium resolution bitemporal Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery with an optimized random forest model. The influence of the surrounding landscape matrix was then constrained to two buffer distances, i.e., 1 km representing the local foraging scale and 2.5 km representing the wider foraging scale around each investigated apiary and for each of the six sites. The results of zero-inflated negative binomial regression with mixed effects showed that lower complexity of patch geometries represented by fractal dimension and reduced proportions of croplands were most influential at local foraging scales (1 km) from the apiary. In addition, higher proportions of woody vegetation and hedges resulted in higher colony strength at longer distances from the apiary (2.5 km). Honey bees in moderately degraded landscapes demonstrated the most consistently strong colonies throughout the study period. Efforts towards improving beekeeper livelihoods, through higher hive productivity, should target moderately degraded and heterogeneous landscapes, which provide forage from diverse land covers.

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“…For instance, some pests contributing to colony losses in this study were previously reported to elicit colony absconding. These include the wax moth [67,68], the small hive beetle [70], the large hive beetle [71] and ants [28,71]. Of note, attack of a hive by the large hive beetles was widespread in the Coastal region of Kenya, where an exceptionally high infestation rate of the large hive beetle, with over 400 individuals per hive, has recently been documented [29,70].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managed honey bee colony losses and causes during the active beekeeping season 2022/2023 in nine Sub-Saharan African countries

Nganso,

Ayalew,

Wubie

et al. 2024

Preprint

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This study reports for the first-time managed honey bee colony loss rates and associated risk factors during the active beekeeping season 2022/2023 in nine Sub-Saharan African countries, namely Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Benin, Liberia, Nigeria, Cameroon and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The sustainability of bee swarm catches as a main honey bee colony source tool for operation expansion by African beekeepers was also evaluated in Kenya and Ethiopia. In this survey, the 1,786 interviewed beekeepers across these countries collectively managing 41,761 colonies registered an overall loss rate of 21.3%, which varied significantly among countries (from 9.7 to 45.3%) and hive types (from 10.6% in hives with movable frames to 17.9% in frameless hives). The perceived causes of losses in order of significance were issues beyond the beekeeper control (mainly theft, drought, and bushfire), absconding and pests (mainly wax moth, small and large hive beetles, ants and Varroa destructor mite), but this pattern varied greatly across countries. Among the management practices and characteristics, migratory operations and professional beekeepers experienced lower losses than stationary operations and semi-professionals and hobby beekeepers. Insights into the number of bee swarms caught revealed significant decreases in swarm availability over the past three years in Kenya. The opposite situation was observed in some regions of Ethiopia. These trends require further investigation. Overall, this comprehensive survey sheds light on the complexities and challenges beekeepers faced in Sub-Saharan Africa, pointing to the need for targeted interventions and sustained research to support the resilience and growth of the apicultural sector.

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Large Hive Beetles: An Emerging Serious Honey Bee Pest in the Coastal Highlands of Kenya

Cited by 5 publications

References 9 publications

Modeling the Invasion of the Large Hive Beetle, Oplostomusfuligineus, into North Africa and South Europe under a Changing Climate

Modeling the Invasion of the Large Hive Beetle, Oplostomusfuligineus, into North Africa and South Europe under a Changing Climate

Fragmented landscapes affect honey bee colony strength at diverse spatial scales in agroecological landscapes in Kenya

Managed honey bee colony losses and causes during the active beekeeping season 2022/2023 in nine Sub-Saharan African countries

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