The mite Varroa destructor lowers the stinging response threshold of honey bees (Apis mellifera)

The ecto-parasitic mite Varroa destructor is an extremely damaging biotic factor of honey bees (Apis mellifera) worldwide. The magnitude of the damage that V. destructor causes to the health of honey bees is well documented, but little is known about how it affects their behavior. For example, it is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of apicultural research 2024-01, Vol.63 (1), p.184-188
Main Authors: De la Mora, Alvaro, Morfin, Nuria, Espinosa-Montaño, Laura G., Medina-Flores, Carlos Aurelio, Guzman-Novoa, Ernesto
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Apis mellifera
defensive behavior
electric stimuli
response thresholds
stinging
Varroa destructor
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Summary:The ecto-parasitic mite Varroa destructor is an extremely damaging biotic factor of honey bees (Apis mellifera) worldwide. The magnitude of the damage that V. destructor causes to the health of honey bees is well documented, but little is known about how it affects their behavior. For example, it is not known whether parasitism by V. destructor influences the bees' defensive behavior, and since this behavior has evolutionary and practical implications, its study is of importance. In this research, we used a constant-current stimulator to expose worker bees to a 0.5 mA electric stimulus after being parasitized by Varroa mites to test the hypothesis that V. destructor parasitism affects the stinging response threshold of individual honey bees. Bees exposed to V. destructor parasitism stung significantly faster than control bees in each of three trials (p 
ISSN:0021-8839
2078-6913
DOI:10.1080/00218839.2021.1959754