Wikipaedia describes SHB quite clearly as a pest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_hive_beetle

It is interesting to look at the references there.

"Despite the fact that small hive beetles may cause considerable damage in 
bee colonies in the U.S., they increasingly are considered a secondary pest 
of bee colonies, much like the greater (Galleria mellonella Linnaeus) and 
lesser (Achroia grisella Fabricius) wax moths (Ellis and Hepburn 2006). 
Colonies hosting other bee diseases/pests appear more likely to suffer small 
hive beetle damage than healthy ones."
 from 
http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/bees/small_hive_beetle.htm

So, secondary pest? That description is more like that of a scavenger. As 
Randy mentioned in his post.

Since it is not advantageous to a parasite to kill its host, they normally 
do not. To a pest it doesn't matter, since they simply move to another host 
once they have completed their process (be it feeding or reproduction or 
both). That behaviour is more characteristic of a pest than that of a 
parasite.

And thats what SHB does

However I am assured by some Dept of Agriculture personnel here, that some 
parasites do indeed kill their hosts, and some sheep parasites do just that! 
I am not sure if these are the parasitoids or semelparous parasites that 
Randy mentioned, but the other point that has emerged is that it depends on 
if you consider the beehive to be a superorganism  Sheep are a herd animal, 
so perhaps a flock of sheep can be considered a superorganism?

Commonsense tells me that SHB is a pest, but some "experts" (no disrespect 
intended) say otherwise, and that its a parasite.

Trouble is, some of these experts are lawyers not biologists....so who is 
right? Maybe both?

This is not just a philosophical question, and Juanse is justified in 
raising it....it actually matters to officialdom. And that reflects in their 
responses to new incursions.

PeterD 

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