I've been lurking on Bee-L for a couple years now, so first let me say
thanks for the great discussions.

I wanted to bring the article below to the lists attention.  It
outlines a new parasite, a "zombie" phorid fly found near SF Bay.
Like all news articles, there's some showmanship.  The article also
links to a PLoS ONE paper which has a few interesting statements:
    The flies were carrying DWV and Nosema C (not infected, just carrying)
    The same species of fly was infecting both bumble and honey bees.
     Infection caused worker bees to abandon the hive at night

I've never watched a hive at night, but know that workers generally
leave the hive to die.  The conclusion that the fly larvae is
modifying the workers' behavior to do this at night seems a stretch,
since it moves the flies AWAY from other available hosts.


Comments?
Ben

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/01/03/zombie-fly-parasite-killing-honeybees/
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029639

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