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Reproduction of Varroa Jacobsoni in Colonies of Apis Cerana Indica Under Natural and Experimental Conditions Nc Tewarson, a Singh, W Engels

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Reproduction of Varroa Jacobsoni in Colonies of Apis Cerana Indica Under Natural and Experimental Conditions Nc Tewarson, a Singh, W Engels Reproduction of Varroa jacobsoni in colonies of Apis cerana indica under natural and experimental conditions Nc Tewarson, A Singh, W Engels To cite this version: Nc Tewarson, A Singh, W Engels. Reproduction of Varroa jacobsoni in colonies of Apis cerana indica under natural and experimental conditions. Apidologie, Springer Verlag, 1992, 23 (2), pp.161-171. hal-00890982 HAL Id: hal-00890982 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00890982 Submitted on 1 Jan 1992 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Original article Reproduction of Varroa jacobsoni in colonies of Apis cerana indica under natural and experimental conditions NC Tewarson1 A Singh W Engels 1 Ewing Christian College, Department of Zoology, Allahabad 211003, India; 2 Zoologisches Institut der Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, D-7400 Tübingen, Germany (Received 11 March 1991; accepted 11 February 1992) Summary — In North India the infestation with Varroa jacobsoni of drone and worker brood in Apis cerana colonies was checked monthly. Natural reproduction of the mite was found to be restricted to drone brood and to springtime. The potential reproduction in worker brood was investigated by artifi- cially induced infection. Since the bees recognized and eliminated any mites originating from other hives, the grafting was performed within the same colony. Even then, 75% of the transferred mites were removed by the bees. Of the remaining Varroa females, about 90% were found to be infertile. The significance of the hitherto known varroatosis resistance factors related to reproduction is dis- cussed with regard to a balanced host-parasite relationship. Apis cerana indica / Varroa jacobsoni / reproduction I female mite infertility / varroatosis re- sistance INTRODUCTION 1986). However, this could not be con- firmed by a recent titer study using radio- The host-parasite relationships between immunoassay techniques (Rosenkranz et data on the hor- the eastern honey bee, Apis cerana, and al, 1990). Comparable the mite, Varroa jacobsoni, has not been mone titer in Apis cerana larvae are lack- sufficiently studied. Several observations ing. Therefore the question of why Varroa succeeds on drone suggest that low reproduction of the para- reproduction only brood in cerana bees remains site in worker brood plays an important open. role in varroatosis resistance of Apis cera- Since higher parasitization of drone na (Koeniger et al, 1981; Tewarson, 1987; brood in both the original host, Apis cera- de Jong, 1988). Female mite fertility was na (Koeniger et al, 1983; Tewarson, 1987; presumed to be regulated by the level of de Jong, 1988), and the secondary host, juvenile hormone present in the hemo- Apis mellifera (Sulimanovic et al, 1982; lymph of its host, particularly of late 5th in- Engels et al, 1984; Issa and Gonçalves, star bee larvae (Hänel and Koeniger, 1984; Schulz, 1984; Rosenkranz and En- gels, 1985; Fuchs, 1990) is well document- Beekeeping at Allahabad ed, one possible explanation might be that, in the case of the eastern bee, honey Beekeepers multiply Apis cerana indica colonies reproductive mites avoid worker brood be- by division and also try to catch swarms. There cause of the low probability to survive. If is no queen-rearing practised in the Allahabad introduced they could perhaps become fer- region. Therefore, the local bee population con- tile in this microhabitat. sists of a mixture of hived and feral colonies. Many beekeepers have only 2 or 3 colonies, In order to test this we hypothesis, and large apiaries are found mainly in the moun- transferred reproductive Varroa females tain areas of Uttar Pradesh state. The average between already capped drone and worker annual honey yield per colony is about 2.5-4.5 brood cells of Apis cerana. Because pre- kg. Varroatosis in the eastern honey bee does liminary observations indicated that the not require any control measures. bees easily recognize any alien mites, the transfer was carried out within the same colony. The reproductive success of such Experimental colonies grafted mites was checked about a week later. The experiments were carried out in Experimental colonies of Apis cerana indica India during the early spring breeding sea- were maintained on the campus of Ewing Chris- son. At the same time the rate of natural tian College, Allahabad. The wooden hives con- brood infestation was checked. tained 8 brood frames measuring 28 x 18 cm and a super 28 x 9 cm with the same number of honey frames. For 2 naturally built brood combs the number of cells per square unit of each was MATERIALS AND METHODS determined. We counted 423-446 cells per 100 cm2 for the drone combs and 660-693 for the worker combs. of the within Timing experiments For the experiments 10 strong colonies with the annual colony cycle in North India a minimum of 5 covered brood combs and plen- ty of drone brood were selected. Only healthy At Allahabad, spring begins in late January. At colonies without sacbrood or other infections were used. To the colonies in condi- this time, a rise in brood rearing can be ob- keep good served in all Apis cerana indica colonies. tion, syrup was given from July through Septem- Swarming occurs in March and April. Drones ber and again from mid-November through mid- are usually present from February until mid- January. About 2 kg of sugar was fed per colo- May. In the hot month of June adult drones dis- ny. appear in many colonies, and in July the brood nest becomes small. The monsoon rain begins at the end of June or the first half of July. During Control of natural Varroa infestation the monsoon season there is little nectar flow, and the colonies fade. Rain terminates in Au- gust, but forage is scarce until the end of Sep- Natural brood infestation by Varroa jacobsoni tember. In October and November during the was checked throughout the year in the experi- fall blossom, the colonies are stimulated to mental colonies. Twice a month 100 sealed breed again. In December, brood rearing is worker and, if available, the same number of largely interrupted by the brief winter cold. drone brood cells per hive were opened and in- Hence at Allahabad, brood is present through- spected for mites. In all colonies Varroa jacob- out the year, and in strong colonies some drone soni was present all times, but no visible hazard larvae may be found at any time. The best peri- was recorded. Corresponding observations od for experiments requiring abundant drone have been made since we began our varroato- brood, however, is early springtime. sis research project in 1984. Artificial infection of worker broad nies 6-8% of the sealed worker cells were infested. One and occasionally even 2 fe- male mites were All these Varroa The experiments were conducted from January present. females were since no through April in 1988 and 1989. Out of the 10 ex- apparently infertile, perimental hives, 1-3 at a time were randomly eggs or nymphs were detected in worker used per transfer day, resulting in a total of 42 cells. at 24 dates Indi- within-colony graftings (table II). the which lasted vidual brood cells were marked by means of a During experiments, the rate of transparent sheet. For grafting, Varroa jacobsoni from January through April, females were removed from recently capped drone brood infestation varied considera- drone cells. In a transfer experiment, 12-15 fe- bly among the 10 hives and over the male mites were collected within 10-15 min and course of the season (table I). The range stored in a Petri dish on wet paper. Only suppos- was from 0-54.0% in 1988 and from 1.5- mites with swollen opisthosoma edly reproductive 60.5% in 1989. The monthly mean per- were taken. A small opening in the capping of a of infested drone brood cells was freshly sealed worker brood cell was made with centage and 34.0% 1988 the forceps. A mite was positioned at the end of a between 5.1 (fig 1). In needle and introduced into the cell. The cell was peak of drone brood parasitization was then sealed again using a hot needle. This graft- reached in March; and in 1989 already by ing was carried out within the same colony, be- February, but which continued in March. In cause we had observed in preliminary experi- 1989 the level of infestation was ments that the bees and higher easily recognized than in 1988. Similar fluctuations had been removed mites originating from other colonies, in particular if collected in Apis mellifera hives. Eight recorded in previous years. In the spring to 10 days later, the artificially infected cells were periods, practically all female mites in opened and inspected for a normally developed host pupa and the presence of a female mite and eggs. Over the 2 spring seasons, a total of more than 400 female mites were transferred. RESULTS Natural colony infestation January through May, during the drone brood and swarming season, only very few worker cells were found to contain female mites. The maximum infestation constitut- ing less than 1% was usually observed in March. At this time the ratio of parasitized worker and drone brood cells was approxi- mately 1:30. However, during the rainy season, particularly from mid-June through mid-September, a number of Varroa fe- males were found to have invaded the worker brood.
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