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. 2017 Jul;24(5):992-995.
doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2016.12.018. Epub 2016 Dec 28.

Fertility and reproductive rate of Varroa mite, Varroa destructor, in native and exotic honeybee, Apis mellifera L., colonies under Saudi Arabia conditions

Yehya Alattal  1 , Ahmad AlGhamdi  1 , Arif Single  1 , Mohammad Javed Ansari  1 , Hussien Alkathiri  1
Affiliations

Fertility and reproductive rate of Varroa mite, Varroa destructor, in native and exotic honeybee, Apis mellifera L., colonies under Saudi Arabia conditions

Yehya Alattal et al. Saudi J Biol Sci. 2017 Jul.

Abstract

Varroa mite is the most destructive pest to bee colonies worldwide. In Saudi Arabia, preliminary data indicated high infestation levels in the exotic honeybee colonies; such as Apis mellifera carnica and Apis mellifera ligustica, compared to native honeybee subspecies Apis mellifera jemenitica, which may imply higher tolerance to Varroasis. In this study, fertility and reproductive rate of Varroa mite, Varroa destructor, in capped brood cells of the native honeybee subspecies were investigated and compared with an exotic honeybee subspecies, A. m. carnica. Mite fertility was almost alike (87.5% and 89.4%) in the native and craniolan colonies respectively. Similarly, results did not show significant differences in reproduction rate between both subspecies (F = 0.66, Pr > F = 0.42). Number of adult Varroa daughters per fertile mother mite was 2.0 and 2.1 for native and craniolan honeybee subspecies respectively. This may indicate that mechanisms of keeping low infestation rates in the native honeybee colonies are not associated with Varroa reproduction. Therefore, potential factors of keeping lower Varroa infestation rates in native honey bee subspecies should be further investigated.

Keywords: Capped brood; Fertility; Reproductive rate; Saudi Arabia; Tolerance; Varroa.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Inspecting capped brood cells for the presence of Varroa mite: (a) sampling of capped brood cells for inspection (Dietemann et al., 2013), (b) using of cold light to inspect the inside of the cells for Varroa presence, (c) example for two Varroa families inside one brood cell, (d) Progeny for one mother mite.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
No. of Varroa mite progeny presented at different developmental stages of honeybee pupae which were categorized according to Rembold et al., (1980); RW = red eyes and white body (168 h after capping), BW = dark brown eyes and white body (192 h after capping), BB1 = dark brown eyes and grey body (214 h after capping), BB2 = black; eyes and grey body (243 h after capping), BB3 = black eyes and body (266 h after capping), and S = adult bee shortly before emergence.
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References

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