Barry Donovan:
The external acarine mites, Acarapis dorsalis and A. externus, were known from North America long before the advent of the internal acarine mite and varroa.

Reply:
You left one out of those reports you noted: Acarapis Vagans which are normally found on the wing bases where the first thoraxic spiracle is and since mites back then were identified by point of infestation then the Vagans were outside mites at the wing bases are and only soft hairs that need to toughen up keeping them from going internally fwiw. I show the A dorsalis in what I have to read being usually located in the scutellar groove. And note again back then (and probably still) "Separation of species" was based on point of infestation and "shape of the mite's posterior coxal plate". Nosema back then was like today: Strong/healthy colonies no problem,...weak or queenless colonies were much more problemmatic. Now I am talking 1960 and earlier here with reports of mite seeing all the way back in USA to about 1917. So like Barry Donovan says, and I agree with, the problem has been around a long time with connection to nosema.

But Barry also writes: What infective agent could cause foragers to not return to hives?

Reply:
Well, to me treatments in a hive or pesticides picked up in foraging could do this especially with the number of chemicals found contaminating broodnest when looked at by Maryam Frazier, which I think is very good work done by her. For Fluvalinate is a memory retardant used early on crops for intial spraying prior to more toxic which generally used to be organo phosphates of which coumaphos is and neuro toxic to extreme or at least used to be. But both are now used in beehives. Temik or aldicarb used to be another big field problem for bees way back, especially down in fla in the citrus areas (but we have citrus too in Calif), but don't know if it is still used, though assume it is, but could be wrong. It is a highly toxic immune deficiency breakdown chemical that even in humans at 1/10 part per billion if I remember correctly, induces symptoms similar to AIDS.......so what it does to bees for health problems for immunal distress might be checked
 relative to CCD.

Could they cause bees to not return home? Well, it's said it takes food in a bees gut to be able to forage at all. So they fill up to a certain extent to fly out to find stuff to bring home. But if memory retardants are in hives and neuro toxic contamination also, it might make it hard to fly properly, and remember where home is, and if other chemicals are used to breach immune system, or say pollen or carb food (honey or syrups) compromised some way due to treatments, then makes it hard to work to begin with and then get back home......as basic as I can put it.

But Barry, interesting to see you pulled up old mite knowledge from our country dating back to 1917 and still talked about even in the 1960s in our various labs when looking at bee problems. Kinda like history repeating itself though now more complicated due to field management with stuff in hives now as Maryam Frazier now talks about. 

Might be interesting for her and Jerry to team up and compare works side by side to see what correlations are.......

Dee A. Lusby  





      

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