School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES), University College Cork, Cork, Ireland, UK.
Exp Appl Acarol. 2012 Dec;58(4):423-30. doi: 10.1007/s10493-012-9591-4. Epub 2012 Jul 3.
This study evaluated for the first time the grooming response of honey bees to Varroa mites of different ages and reproductive statuses in the laboratory. Plastic cages containing a section of dark comb and about 200 bees were inoculated with groups of four classes of mites: gravid, phoretic foundresses, phoretic daughters and a combination of gravid and phoretic foundress mites. Each cage received 20 mites belonging to one of these classes. Our results showed that, 1 day after mite inoculation, phoretic daughter mites were the most prone to grooming by honey bees with an average mite drop of 49.8 ± 2.6 %. The lowest mite drop was recorded for bees inoculated with phoretic foundresses (30.3 ± 3.6 %) but was comparable to bees inoculated with gravid mites (31.8 ± 3.8 %) and the combination of gravid and phoretic foundress mites (34.2 ± 3.2 %). No differences among mite types were detected during the second and third days of observation. Regardless of mite type, the highest mite drop was recorded on the first day (35 ± 2.1 %) compared to the drop for any subsequent day (<10 %). Because of the great reproductive potential of daughter mites, their inclusion in assessments of grooming behaviour may increase our insight into the importance of grooming in mite resistance.
这项研究首次在实验室中评估了蜜蜂对不同年龄和生殖状态的瓦螨的理毛反应。含有一段暗巢脾和大约 200 只蜜蜂的塑料笼中接种了四组螨虫：怀孕、寄生的处女螨、寄生的女儿螨以及怀孕和寄生的处女螨的组合。每个笼子接收属于这些类别的 20 只螨虫。我们的结果表明，在螨虫接种后 1 天，寄生的女儿螨虫最容易被蜜蜂梳理，平均螨虫脱落率为 49.8 ± 2.6%。寄生的处女螨（30.3 ± 3.6%）的螨虫脱落率最低，但与怀孕的螨虫（31.8 ± 3.8%）和怀孕和寄生的处女螨的组合（34.2 ± 3.2%）相当。在观察的第二和第三天没有检测到螨虫类型之间的差异。无论螨虫类型如何，与任何后续日期（<10%）相比，在第一天（35 ± 2.1%）记录到的螨虫脱落率最高。由于女儿螨虫具有巨大的生殖潜力，因此将其纳入梳理行为的评估中可能会增加我们对梳理在螨虫抗性中的重要性的认识。
