Recently, Anderson and Trueman (2000), after studying mtDNA Co-I gene sequences and morphological characters of many populations of V. jacobsoni from different parts of the world including Australia but not New Zealand, considered it to be a species complex and split it into two species. Varroa jacobsoni s.s. infests Apis cerana F. in the Malaysia-Indonesia region. Varroa destructor Anderson & Trueman, 2000 infests its natural host A. cerana on mainland Asia and also A. mellifera L. worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to determine the specific status of the New Zealand Varroa in light of the new result of Anderson and Trueman (2000).

In separating V. destructor from V. jacobsoni s.s., Anderson and Trueman (2000) showed that the two species differ mainly in mtDNA Co-I gene sequences, but can also be separated by female body size: the former is larger than the latter (Table 1). The specimens from

Anderson and Trueman (2000) identified two haplotypes of V. destructor that infest A. cerana in Asia and have become pests of A. mellifera worldwide. The Korea haplotype is the common one, being a parasite of A. cerana in Korea and now a pest of A. mellifera in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, North America and South America. The Japan/Thailand haplotype is less common, being a parasite of A. cerana in Japan and Thailand and also a pest of A. mellifera in Japan, Thailand and the Americas.

The Korea haplotype of V. destructor appears more pathogenic to A. mellifera than the Japan/ Thailand type (Anderson & Trueman 2000). The New Zealand V. destructor is likely to be the widespread Korea haplotype. However, sequencing its DNA in the future is required to confirm this.

Varroa destructor is much more widespread than V. jacobsoni s.s., and the Korea haplotype of V. destructor has the greatest geographical range among four Varroa species (Anderson & Trueman 2000). Although the origin of New Zealand Varroa is unknown at present, it is almost certain that it could not have come from Malaysia-Australia- Papua New Guinea, because only V. jacobsoni s.s. is distributed there. Thus the New Zealand Varroa is of Asian, European, American or, less likely, African origin.




www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/acarology/saas/saasp/pdf10/saasp05b.pdf