RECORDING OF SOME BEETLES IN HONEY BEE COLONIES DOI: 10.2478/cerce-2018-0019 Original Article Available online: www.uaiasi.ro/CERCET_AGROMOLD/ Print ISSN 0379-5837; Electronic ISSN 2067-1865 Cercetări Agronomice în Moldova Vol. LI , No. 2 (174) / 2018: 85-90 NOTE: RECORDING OF SOME BEETLES IN HONEY BEE COLONIES H.F. ABOU-SHAARA1*, M.E. AHMAD1, J. HÁVA2 *E-mail: [email protected] Received Nov. 06, 2017. Revised: Feb. 28, 2018. Accepted: Mar. 21, 2018. Published online: June 27, 2018 ABSTRACT. Honey bees are very valuable These beetles’ species can be considered as to human. These social insects contribute in potential pests to weak honey bee colonies, the pollination of many crops. Also, the housed in old or damaged beehives. The products from honey bee colonies have presence of large numbers of these beetles many nutritional and medicinal benefits. in weak colonies may disturb the activities Thus, keeping honey bees are very valuable of the bees and may passively impact the and can be considered as source of income survival of the colonies. Listing these to many families. There are many diseases beetles is very important to better and pests that attack honey bee colonies. understanding the interaction between The pests attack bee colonies include: honey bees and beetles. On the other side, hornets, wax moths, bee-eater birds, and small hive beetles were not detected in the beetles. Such challenges can impact the colonies. These beetles are currently one of survival and productivity of honey bee the major problems facing honey bees in colonies. In this study, some beetle species different parts of the world. This study belong to Fam. Nitidulidae, Dermestidae confirms the absence of small hive beetles and Mycetophagidae were detected in honey from Egypt. bee colonies in Egypt, during spring. Despite the presence of many beetle species Keywords: Nitidulidae; Dermestidae; in the agricultural environment, only few Mycetophagidae; debris. species preferred the invasion of the colonies for feeding. These beetles do not INTRODUCTION attack stages of honey bees. They only feed on stored pollen or bee bread, especially those fallen on the bottom of the beehives. Honey bees, Apis mellifera L., This is an alarm to follow the feeding provide the agricultural sector with behavior and distribution of these beetles. pollination services for many crops. 1 Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Damanhour University, Egypt 2 Department of Forest Protection and Entomology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Czech Republic 85 H.F. ABOU-SHAARA, M.E. AHMAD, J. HÁVA Any decline in number of bee Neumann, 2008). SHB occurs in colonies can impact these vital some parts in Sudan (El-Niweiri et al., services greatly. The recent 2008). Recently, SHB was reported in phenomena of the disappearance of Italy (Palmeri et al., 2015). honey bees, which known as colony There are other species of beetles collapse disorder (CCD), increased that can attack bee colonies. These the public awareness about the vital beetles are not well documented and importance of honey bees as plant studied. For example, in southern and pollinators. Many studies have been eastern Africa, the hive beetles performed to investigate the exact Oplostomus fuligineus Olivier, 1789 reasons behind the disappearance of and Oplostomus haroldi Witte, 1880 honey bees. Diseases of honey bees (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), are considered as possible reasons respectively, are pests to honey bees behind this phenomenon, beside other and predate on brood (Tihelka, 2016). environmental problems include the Also, some beetles are considered as pollution with pesticides pests to other bee species. The wax (VanEngelsdorp et al., 2009; beetle, Platybolium alvearium Blair Neumann & Carreck, 2010). Another (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), was threat to bee colonies is pests of recorded in north-eastern of India and honey bees. These pests include: bee has been considered as pest to the eaters, hornets, bee wolves, and small Indian honey bee (Apis cerana hive beetles (SHB) Aethina tumida himalaya) feeding on wax (Pande et Murray (Fam. Nitidulidae). SHB is al., 2015). The black fungus beetles dangerous enemy to the bees. These (Alphitobius laevigatus, Coleoptera: beetles feed as larvae and adults on Tenebrionidae) are associated with bee food and larvae, but pupate in the Apis cerana (Maitip et al., 2017). In soil (Neumann et al., 2013), and can Brazil, the histerid beetle Omalodes destroy the colonies in case of high foveola (Coleoptera: Histeridae) has infestation. These beetles are existed been found as co-inhabiting in some countries, including South Africanized honey bee hives, beside Africa and the USA. In United States, native bees (Meliponinae) (Krüger et the SHB is a new pest to bee colonies al., 2017). It seems that bee colonies and showed genetic similarities to are the target to many beetles. Here, those from South Africa (Evans et al., beetles were captured from bee 2000). The SHB was detected in colonies and identified to shade more Egypt as reported by Mostafa & lights on the beetle species, which can Williams (2000), but at present these attack bee colonies. beetles are not existed in the Egyptian apiaries, according to extensive METHODS surveys. Thus, it has been suggested that these beetles were not well Honey bee colonies established in Egypt (Hassan & The study was conducted at an apiary at Damanhour city, El-Behera 86 RECORDING OF SOME BEETLES IN HONEY BEE COLONIES governorate, Egypt, during spring 2017. wool, fur, skins and is considered as Egyptian Carniolan honey bees, housed in pest to stored food (Robinson, 2005). Langstroth beehives, were utilized in this Also, it was considered as pest of study. The beehives were provided with stored seeds of Eucalyptus spp. in bottom drawers with few holes to facility Karnataka, India (Rajashekhargouda the accession of beetles to inside the colonies. All the colonies were provided et al., 1985). Food type and with the same feeding type during the environmental conditions can impact study period. Each colony contained five the developmental period of the combs covered with bees (three brood immature stages of Attagenus combs and two food combs). fasciatus, and females live longer than males (Ali, 1993). Low relative Collection and identification of beetles humidity (RH) showed passive The colonies were inspected impacts on the development of these carefully on weekly basis to monitor the beetles (Ali et al., 2011). These beetles presence of any beetles on the hive combs can feed on stored pollens inside or in the hive bottoms. The beetles were detected only in the drawers of the honey bee colonies, especially weak beehives. The detected beetles were died ones. The effects of stored pollen, in and with hard bodies. The beetles were comparison with other food types on placed in Eppendorf tubes and then were the development of these beetles, may photographed and were identified. The require further investigations. feeding behavior of these beetles and the The four species from Fam. potential damages to bee colonies were Nitidulidae are cosmopolitan. These discussed. beetles, in general, feed on stored food, and perhaps attack fruits in the field. Carpophilus hemipterus can RESULTS AND DISCUSSION complete the development at range of temperatures from 20 to 42.5°C The detected beetles were one (James & Vogele, 2000). This reflects species (Fig. 1) belong to Fam. the ability of these beetles to adapt Dermestidae (Attagenus fasciatus) with various environments. These (Thunberg), and four species (Figs. 2 beetles can feed on stored pollen and 3) belong to Fam. Nitidulidae inside weak colonies, without (Epuraea sp., Carpophilus hemipterus harming immature stages of honey (L.), Urophorus sp. and Carpophilus bees. sp.), and Litargus sp. (Fig. 4) from The beetles from Fam. Fam. Mycetophagidae. Some beetles Mycetophagidae are mostly feed on were found dry in the beehives, thus it was not possible to identify their fungi (Arnett et al., 2002). A species species name. from Litargus was recorded in Brazil The Attagenus fasciatus is feed on Fungi associated with fruit cosmopolitan, especially in warmer trees, and a significant positive regions. This beetle feeds on some correlation was detected between materials of animal origin, including abundance of this beetle and RH 87 H.F. ABOU-SHAARA, M.E. AHMAD, J. HÁVA (Milléo et al., 2011). These beetles when the moisture inside the colony is may invade weak colonies, especially high and rotten pollens are existed. Figure 1 - Attagenus Figure 2 - Epuraea sp. (A) and Carpophilus fasciatus hemipterus (B) Figure 3 - Urophorus sp. Figure 4 - Litargus sp. (Mycetophagidae) CONCLUSION of weak colonies. 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