Varroa sensitive hygiene

About: Varroa sensitive hygiene is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 714 publications have been published within this topic receiving 24928 citations. The topic is also known as: VSH.

Parasite-host interactions between the Varroa mite and the honey bee

Abstract: Varroa jacobsoni mites may invade worker or drone brood cells when worker bees bring them in close contact with these cells. The attractive period of drone brood cells is two to three times longer than that of worker brood cells. The attractiveness of brood cells is related to the distance between the larva and the cell rim and the age of the larva. The moment of invasion of the mite into a brood cell is not related to the duration of its stay on adult bees. The fraction of the phonetic mites that invade brood cells is determined by the ratio of the number of suitable brood cells and the size of the colony. The distribution of mites over worker and drone brood in a colony is determined by the specific rates of invasion and the numbers of both brood cell types. Knowledge of mite invasion behaviour has led to effective biotechnical control methods.

Natural Selection of Honeybees Against Varroa destructor

Abstract: After varroa invaded Europe in the mid of twentieth century, a few populations of honeybee colonies have been found to survive the mite. This chapter describes the case of natural selection of honeybees in France against varroa. Different hypotheses have been tested to explain this phenomenon, such as resistance of the bees to the mite or to the associated viruses and the lower virulence of the mites. We found that the reproduction of the mite and/or the varroa sensitive hygiene are probably key factors in the survival of those bees. Other varroa resistant honeybee populations have been found in several other countries and are also described as well as the putative mechanisms of survival. Finally, we discuss the interest of those bees for scientists and beekeepers in the framework of honeybee selection and describe the successful approaches lead by scientists for honeybee selection on a specific trait.