-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Loring Borst [log in to unmask]
Continuing from the citation of KRAUS AND PAGE: Varroa on feral A. mellifera:
"Other honey bee diseases have had similarly devastating effects upon populations. A large portion of the honey bee population in the United Kingdom perished at the beginning of this century because of the Isle of Wight disease, probably caused by Acarapis woodi."

When the Acarine mite was discovered it was noticed that whereas some bees that seemed to be flying normally were afflicted by the mite, others crawling at the hive entrance had no mites.  Therefore scientists at the time doubted whether the mite was the cause of the Isle of Wight disease but the press and BKAs wanted something to blame and so Acarine got the publicity. Decades later, Bailey concluded that the Isle of Wight disease was caused by a paralysis virus but viruses hadn't been invented at the time of the outbreak.

There appears to have been some exaggeration of the effects of the disease (to the advantage of bee importers and vendors) as recent studies of the genome of bees in the UK show that they are typically about 50% Apis mellifera mellifera, the British Black bee with local 'hot spots' with a much higher concentration.

Chris

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