Hello All,

Research on chelifers for control of varroa is progressing apace at Lincoln, New Zealand. Briefly, when adult Chelifer cancroides were presented with varroa in small containers, the varroa were immediately killed and fed upon. 

When 8 adult C. cancroides were installed in a `chelifer hotel' in a beehive and after 6 weeks the chelifers were analysed for varroa DNA, varroa DNA was present in the guts of 4 chelifers. A juvenile chelifer was also present, which suggests that the chelifers had propagated in the beehive.A paper detailing the test is almost ready for submission to a journal for publication.

A field-scale test of many more chelifers in beehives has just been initiated by staff of Plant and Food Research Ltd.., under the direction of Dr Ron van Toor.

In mid 2012 I spent 3 weeks in southern Africa investigating reports from several beekeepers that their local species of chelifers controlled varroa, but my tests confirmed the assertion of Mike Allsopp that varroa were not killed.

Until November 2012 we had worked at Lincoln with two species of native New Zealand chelifers, both of which consumed varroa, but because honey bees were introduced to New Zealand beginning in 1839, our native chelifers of course had no evolutionary history with honey bees, and so their ability to co-exist with honey bees inside hives was questionable.

Fortuitously, in November 2012 I discovered a thriving colony of C. cancroides in nests of the lucerne leafcutting bee Megachile rotundata at Lincoln, and as this is the species of chelifer that used to occur in skep-type beehives in Europe, this is now the chelifer of choice for study.

In northern Germany C. cancroides is also being researched upon, with what we believe are promising results.  

To summarize, C. cancroides certainly kills varroa, and can maintain itself for at least 6 weeks in a beehive and probably breed there. The question now is: can chelifers exist in beehives for long enough to control varroa, and if so, can this be achieved economically? There is a long way to go, but so far, so good.

Regards,

Barry Donovan,
Lincoln,
New Zealand. 


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