Experimental & Applied Acarology

, Volume 19, Issue 3, pp 181–188 | Cite as

Number of adult female mites Varroa jacobsoni Oud. on hive debris from honey bee colonies artificially infested to monitor mite population increase (Mesostigmata: Varroidae)

  • F. Calatayud
  • M. J. Verdu
Article

Abstract

Six honey bee colonies hived in Langstroth nuclei were each artificially infested with 100 phoretic Varroa mites. Hive debris on bottom inserts was inspected every 3–4 days. The adult Varroa mites were compared with mounted specimens and catalogued into lightly pigmented and darkly pigmented females. After 4 months, an acaricide treatment was used to estimate the final mite population. Based on light and dark adult counts, we propose a balancing equation that follows the Varroa population increase at 7 day intervals and allows the calculation of experimental population growth rates. The calculated Varroa finite rate of increase is λ=1.021. Exponential and logistic growth models fitted to the balancing equation data gave R2=0.986 and R2=0.991, respectively. To develop a more precise model it would be necessary to follow the population growth beyond our experimental data.

Key words

Honey bees Apis mellifera Varroa jacobsoni hive debris population growth rates 
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Copyright information

© Chapman & Hall 1995

Authors and Affiliations

  • F. Calatayud
    • 1
  • M. J. Verdu
    • 1
  1. 1.Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones AgrariasValenciaSpain

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