Hi all
It is widely reported that African bees do not succumb to varroa mites the same way that European bees do. However, the reasons for this are not known with any certitude as suggested by this recent statement:
Numerous studies have demonstrated that adult Africanized honey
bees (descendants of A. m. scutellata) in the neotropics are more tolerant
to the Varroa mite than their European counterparts (Moretto et al.,
1991; De Jong, 1997; Guzman-Novoa et al., 1999, 2011; Medina-Flores
et al., 2014), although *the basis of this tolerance is still not well understood*
This new work demonstrates that African are just as prone to the effects of mite parasitism, e.g. deformed wings, shortened lifespan, etc. but that the behavior of the adult bees reduces the number of successfully reproducing mites:
We conclude that V. destructor parasitism and DWV infections kill, cause deformities and inhibit
cellular immunity in developing Africanized honey bees, and significantly reduce the lifespan of adult bees in
Mexico. These results suggest that the tolerance of Africanized bees to V. destructor is *related to adult bee mechanisms.*
In other words, opposing theories are 1) AHB is not affected by the varroa vs. 2) AHB controls varroa levels. The second seems to be the case rather than the former. Work like this is important to tease out causes and effects.
SOURCE:
Reyes-Quintana, Mariana, et al. "Impact of Varroa destructor and deformed wing virus on emergence, cellular immunity, wing integrity and survivorship of Africanized honey bees in Mexico." Journal of Invertebrate Pathology (2019).
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