Submitted to: Scientific Reports
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/20/2024
Publication Date: 6/27/2024
Citation: Cornelissen, B., Ellis, J., Gort, G., Hendriks, M., Van Loon, J.J., Stuhl, C.J., Neumann, P. 2024. The small hive beetle's capacity to disperse over long distances by flight. Scientific Reports. 14:14859. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-65434-1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-65434-1

Interpretive Summary: The small hive beetle is native to sub-Saharan Africa but has been introduced to many parts of the world, including the United States, where it has become a significant problem for beekeepers. The small hive beetle invades honey bee colonies, causing damage to comb, brood, stored honey, and pollen, with eventual death to the honey bee colony. In this study, a team of researchers from the USDA-ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology in Gainesville, FL, University of Florida, the Netherlands, and Switzerland performed mark-release-recapture experiments that were conducted in six replicates using 15,690 laboratory reared and dye-fed small hive beetle adults. Honey bee colonies were used to attract the released small hive beetles at different locations from a central release point. There were 770 small hive beetles captured at a maximum distance of 3.2 km after 24 hours and 12 km after one week. Seventy-six percent of the small hive beetles were collected closest to the release point at 0 m and at 50 m, 52% were captured. This suggests that small hive beetles prefer nearby honey bee colonies, thereby limiting their need to fly greater distances. Temperature and wind had significant effects on dispersal, with more small hive beetles being recaptured when temperatures were high and confirming the role of wind for odour recognition. These findings demonstrated unique evidence that small hive beetles are capable of long-distance flights and provide important information to local and commercial apiaries for small hive beetle monitoring and control efforts.

Technical Abstract: The spread of invasive species often follows a jump-dispersal pattern. While jumps between distribution ranges are typically fostered by humans, local dispersal can be due to the specific traits of a species, which are often poorly understood. This holds true for small hive beetles (SHB, Aethina tumida), which are free-flying parasites of social bee colonies native to sub-Saharan Africa. They have become a widespread invasive species and can cause significant damage to honey bee populations where introduced, but their dispersal capacity by flight is unknown. In 2017, a mark-release-recapture experiment was conducted in six replicates (A-F) using laboratory reared, dye-fed adults (N=15,690). Honey bee colonies were used to attract flying SHBs at fixed spatial intervals from a central release point. SHBs were recaptured (N=770) at a maximum distance of 3.2 km after 24 hours and 12 km after one week. Most SHBs were collected closest to the release point at 0 m (76%, replicate A) and 50 m (52%, replicates B to F) suggesting that SHB prefer nearby host colonies, thereby limiting flight investment. Temperature and wind deviation had significant effects on dispersal, with more SHBs being recaptured when temperatures were high and confirming the role of wind for odour modulated dispersal of flying insects. Our findings show for the first time that SHBs are capable of long-distance flights, which should be considered for monitoring and mitigation efforts.