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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Bee Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #410744
Research Project: Managing Honey Bees Against Disease and Colony Stress

Location: Bee Research Laboratory

Title: Large cells suppress the reproduction of Varroa destructor

Author
item ZHANG, LIFU - Guangdong Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item SHAO, LINXIN - Guangdong Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item RAZA, MUHAMMAD - Guangdong Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item ZHANG, YI - Guangdong Academy
item HUANG, ZACHARY Y - Michigan State University
item Chen, Yanping - Judy
item SU, SONGKUNI - Fujian Agricultural & Forestry University
item HAN, RICHOU - Guangdong Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item LI, WENFENG - Guangdong Academy Of Agricultural Sciences

Submitted to: Journal of Pest Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/17/2024
Publication Date: 5/18/2024
Citation: Zhang, L., Shao, L., Raza, M., Zhang, Y., Huang, Z., Chen, Y., Su, S., Han, R., Li, W. 2024. Large cells suppress the reproduction of Varroa destructor. Journal of Pest Science. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.8249.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.8249

Interpretive Summary: The parasitic mite Varroa is the world's most devastating pest of the European honey bee which provides essential pollination service for a wide range of crops and wild plants.. This study tested whether Varroa mites' reproduction is affected by the size of honeybee cells. It found that mites in larger cells had lower reproduction rates. This result suggests that larger cells disrupt the chemical cues mites use to find hosts. The information gained from this study are expected to hold significant implications for the implementation of Varroa management programs and should be of interest to researchers, graduate students, beekeepers, and policymakers worldwide.

Technical Abstract: The parasitic mite, Varroa destructor has posed a great threat to the health and survival of European honey bees, Apis mellifera worldwide. There is a prevailing belief that small comb cells offer a means to mitigate the impact of Varroa mites by impeding their reproductive success. However, the hypothesis that reproductive behavior of Varroa mites in smaller cells is changed has not been tested. In the current study, we tested this hypothesis under laboratory conditions by using two distinct Varroa in vitro rearing systems: one involved gelatin capsules of different sizes, specifically size 00 (0.95 mL) versus size 1 (0.48 mL), and the second consisted of brood comb cells drawn on the 3D printed foundations, with varying sizes, ranging from 5.0 mm to 7.0 mm in cell width at 0.5 mm intervals. The results showed that mother mites in size 00 cells had significantly lower fecundity and fertility compared to those in size 1 cells. Interestingly, this reproductive suppression in larger cells could be reversed by adding an extra worker larva. Similarly, gonopore size was smaller in size 00 cells but restored with another host larva. In the brood comb system, mite fecundity and fertility decreased with cell size. Furthermore, the results from brood comb cell system revealed that both the fecundity and fertility of mother mites decreased linearly with the cell sizes. In summary, our study suggests that Varroa mite reproduction is hindered by larger cells, possibly because larger brood cells disperse or weaken host volatile chemical cues that are crucial for Varroa mites' host-finding behavior, ultimately resulting in a detrimental effect on Varroa reproduction. The insights derived from this study are expected to hold significant implications for the implementation of Varroa management programs.