Canada: New research could help honeybees fight off their worst enemy

Published 2024년 3월 27일

Tridge summary

Recent research conducted by the University of Alberta in partnership with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has shed new light on the feeding behavior of the Varroa mite, a significant parasite of honeybees that contributes to annual colony losses of 30% to 40% in Canada. Contrary to previous beliefs that the mite feeds solely on bee hemolymph, a 2019 study discovered it targets a fat layer in adult bees, while the latest findings published in Nature Communications reveal that it consumes hemolymph during the pupal stage. This pivotal insight is key to developing more effective control strategies against the Varroa mite, especially as it grows resistant to current pesticides, aiming to bolster honeybee defenses and mitigate the mite's detrimental effects on agriculture and food supply in Canada.

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Original content

New University of Alberta research could help in the fight against the honeybee's number one enemy—the Varroa mite. Also known as the Varroa destructor, the parasite is a major contributor to annual losses of 30% to 40% of bee colonies in Canada.Effective control of the mite relies on knowing when and what it is feeding on in the lifespan of the bee. Until five years ago it was common wisdom among beekeepers that the Varroa fed on the hemolymph or blood of the bee throughout its development.In 2019, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrated the mite feeding on a layer of the bee's fat just under the exoskeleton. The findings caused a global "paradigm shift" in our understanding of the parasite, says Olav Rueppell of the Department of Biological Sciences.But the 2019 study was restricted to adult bees, so Rueppell and his collaborators at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing decided to examine what Varroa mites were ...

Source: Phys