Varroa destructor (Anderson and Truman) previously described as Varroa jacobsoni (Oud) is a parasitic mite of adult bees and brood. In the past hundred years or so it has become the most serious pest of Western honeybees across the globe, particularly for the European honey bee Apis mellifera which lacks natural defences to be able to deal with the mite […]
Varroa destructor (Anderson and Truman) previously described as Varroa jacobsoni (Oud) is a parasitic mite of adult bees and brood. In the past hundred years or so it has become the most serious pest of Western honeybees across the globe, particularly for the European honey bee Apis mellifera which lacks natural defences to be able to deal with the mite […]
It is thought that the Tracheal mites (also known as Acarine) was a major contributory factor to the ‘Isle of Wight disease’ first seen in the early 1900s. It decimated the honey bee population, later spreading to mainland UK. In more recent times, the Tracheal mites have had a serious economic impact on the beekeeping […]
There are currently four species of Tropilaelaps mites. Of these only two (Tropilaelaps clareae and Tropilaelaps mercedesae) are considered serious mite threats to the Western honey bee Apis mellifera(Anderson and Morgan, 2007). T. clareae and is already an economically important pest throughout Asia with the newly characterised T. mercedesae was widely spread, and was found on Apis mellifera in regions well outside its native range. In coming years […]