Re:  Elevated Mating Frequency in Honey Bee Queens Exposed to the Miticide Amitraz During Development

From the title, one might assume that this study implies something about queen quality.  I don't think this study has anything to do with queen quality, nor is it a benchmark for grounds to determine the effects of Amatraz on queens, nor can it be used as applied science.  The study does raise a few interesting questions, and the authors suggest more study.   

>Even though miticide exposure does not always equate with lower spermatozoa viability in mated queens, at least not when they are tested a few weeks after open mating (as was the case in this study), further research on the physiological and behavioral effects of these miticides on queen reproductive physiology is needed. In response to the low initiation rates of grafted larvae into beeswax-coated plastic cups, further studies may be more successful using alternative queen-rearing methods, such as dipping wax onto shaped dowel rods to produce experimental queen-rearing cups. Given that queens reared in wax containing amitraz also had lower egg-laying rates in a separate study (Walsh et al. 2020), research on the prolonged effects of miticide exposure during queen development on colony health deserves high priority in the research community and must be actively communicated to the beekeeping industry so that better pollinator management practices can be implemented, particularly in commercial queen-rearing operations.


Bill Hesbach
Cheshire CT

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