Tokach Rogan, Aurell Dan, Chuttong Bajaree, Williams Geoffrey R
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
Meliponini and Apini Research Laboratory, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
J Econ Entomol. 2025 Apr 26;118(2):966-969. doi: 10.1093/jee/toae305.
Tropilaelaps mercedesae (Delfinado and Baker) is an emerging parasitic mite that can severely impact the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.). While T. mercedesae has been reported to be expanding its geographical range, the routes of inter-colony dispersal between A. mellifera colonies are still largely unknown. In this study, we used funnel traps to collect foraging honey bees exiting their colonies before performing an alcohol wash to collect any phoretic T. mercedesae mites. We found T. mercedesae on exiting adult honey bees; however, they were only detected when a colony had an elevated T. mercedesae brood infestation. We show that T. mercedesae can exit colonies through phoresy on adult A. mellifera which demonstrates the potential of these mites to be spread through the natural movement of A. mellifera honey bees among colonies.
梅氏热厉螨（Delfinado和Baker）是一种新出现的寄生螨，会对西方蜜蜂（意大利蜜蜂）造成严重影响。虽然已有报道称梅氏热厉螨的地理分布范围在扩大，但意大利蜜蜂蜂群之间的群体间传播途径仍 largely unknown。在本研究中，我们使用漏斗诱捕器收集离开蜂群的觅食蜜蜂，然后进行酒精冲洗以收集所有搭乘的梅氏热厉螨。我们在离开的成年蜜蜂身上发现了梅氏热厉螨；然而，只有当蜂群中梅氏热厉螨的幼虫感染率较高时才检测到它们。我们表明，梅氏热厉螨可以通过搭乘成年意大利蜜蜂离开蜂群，这证明了这些螨虫有可能通过意大利蜜蜂在蜂群间的自然移动而传播。
