Juanse, you nailed the key aspect--the SHB is an opportunistic pest of the
HIVE as compared to a parasite of the HOST (the honey bee).  It is a fruit,
pollen, and hive protein scavenger, rather than a parasite that is dependent
upon the bodies of honey bees.

In the honey house, it is clearly a PEST, since it destroys combs (as does
the wax moth) even without the presence of bees (no host necessary).  This
fact alone places it in the PEST category.

The bees defend the physical combs against damage from the SHB--it is the
combs that the beetle feeds upon, and any larvae that may be killed are more
incidental, rather than hosts.  Note also that the larvae are killed--by
definition, a parasite does not kill the host (a parasitoid may kill the
host; a semelparous parasite may need to kill the host in order to complete
reproduction, but that is a special case not applicable here).

(Like Bill, I was not SHOUTING).

Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
ScientificBeekeeping.com

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm