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Subject:
From:
James Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 12 May 2015 07:52:18 -0400
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I'll translate the video first, and then make some comments

My explanations are in parentheses.
"He" and "His" refer to the pseudo-scorpion.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Translation
=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Beekeeping with no chemicals is our aim.

Varroa?  A problem for the beekeeper since the beginning of time he (the
pseudo-scorpion) has kept bees both clean and healthy until the beekeeper
exterminated him accidentally.

His pincers lame the varroa in seconds  ("lame" meaning the mite is going
nowhere once attacked ).
Sometimes the fight takes a little longer, but the "Butcher-Scorpion" never
loses.

Uncoordinated twitching of the mites legs indicates the start of
unconsciousness.
Left pincers are examined the scorpion in a cleft.
Also, he cleans his mouthparts.
He perceives the taste of its prey.
"Butcher-Scorpions" are arachnids, like mites.
They communicate via sign language and pheromones, just like the bees.
He sits so that can run overhead on the glass (the wording here implies that
there is both a top and a bottom glass layer to run upon)

They also like to eat wax moths and their larvae.
They have a memory.

The mite is pierced at the small inter-segment crack and sucked.

Chelifer cancroides (the Latin name for the pseudo-scorpion featured here)
do not orient themselves through their eyes.
They use with long whiskers on their pincers with which they detect the
smallest air movements.

"Butcher-Scorpions" are crack residents, they look for a secure cleft in
which he can suck his victim while resting.
Once he feels safe, the meal starts.

The mite is heavily armored, so he [the scorpion] gropes for the joint
between segments.
Once the scorpion has penetrated with its chelicerae (fangs at the mouth of
an arachnid) into the mite, he lets go with his pincers to get them free.
He drinks free-handed so that he and his booty can defend or hunt more prey.
He feels the air vibrations caused by the mite at several times its body
length.
He holds its pincers out to determine the rough location of its next victim.
This mite (the 2nd caught) he holds in reserve.
He consumes one mite per hour.

What would he do if we gave him a 3rd mite?
He lifts them up so that they cannot defend themselves.
He pumps the fluid from the mite.
The first mite was empty after 45 minutes.
But varroa taste good (to the scorpion).

The second mite is pierced, and after another hour, the second mite is also
empty.

Given the incredible fact that he likes to drink three times in succession,
this is roughly 60 times (per day) and roughly 16 times faster (than we
expected to see).
He spits his digestive juice repeatedly in the mite pure and rewinds it out
properly, down to the last drop.

To bees and their brood, they are completely harmless.
They have lived since time immemorial in symbiosis with our bees.
They were the "cleaner fish" for the bees.

Dr. Max Beier, a leading spider expert, found in 1951 these scorpions in
each hive, and that the bees even deloused themselves.
But (this discovery/knowledge) then fell into oblivion.
The massive use of chemicals in recent decades has stopped the bees'
exterminator [the scorpion].

Can they be placed back in the hive?
Of course!
Chemical-free beekeeping is within our grasp
The butcher-scorpion: the natural enemy of the varroa mite
The bees must not die!
A rethinking is required
It is time for a comeback !!!
Back to Nature!

Shot on location - Hamburg Germany 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Couple of things here:

Obviously, the pseudo-scorpions are only going to detect a mite's motion
when it is walking around on the combs, not when it is on a bee or in a
cell.
This means that only a small window of opportunity exists for the scorpions
to catch any one mite.
Is the scorpion going to be able to detect a mite on a crowded comb, with
lots of bee activity and motion?  Or is the scorpion instead just going to
just make its own living off varroa that drop to the bottom board, where it
can detect them without distractions? 

This sounds like the siren song of many approaches that had a noticeable
impact on mites outside the cell, but none on mites in the cell.
This seems worse than tactics known to be ineffective for years, such as
Food Grade Mineral Oil and powdered sugar, as it is not going to address
phoretic mites actively parasitizing adult bees. 

Unless the scorpions are willing to grab the mites off the bees, and the
bees are willing to tolerate this from the scorpions, this entire approach
is nothing but wishful thinking, I fear.



	

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