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Comparison of tau-fluvalinate, acrinathrin, and amitraz effects on susceptible and resistant populations of Varroa destructor in a vial test

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Abstract

The parasitic mite Varroa destructor is a major pest of the western honeybee, Apis mellifera. The development of acaricide resistance in Varroa populations is a global issue. Discriminating concentrations of acaricides are widely used to detect pest resistance. Two methods, using either glass vials or paraffin capsules, are used to screen for Varroa resistance to various acaricides. We found the glass vial method to be useless for testing Varroa resistance to acaridices, so we developed a polypropylene vial bioassay. This method was tested on tau-fluvalinate-, acrinathrin-, and amitraz-resistant mite populations from three apiaries in Czechia. Acetone was used as a control and technical grade acaricide compounds diluted in acetone were applied to the polypropylene vials. The solutions were spread on the vial surface by rolling the vial, and were then evaporated. Freshly collected Varroa females were placed in the vials and the mortality of the exposed mites was measured after 24 h. The Varroa populations differed in mortality between the apiaries and the tested compounds. Mites from the Kyvalka site were resistant to acrinathrin, tau-fluvalinate, and amitraz, while mites from the Postrizin site were susceptible to all three acaricides. In Prelovice apiary, the mites were susceptible to acrinathrin and amitraz, but not to tau-fluvalinate. The calculated discriminating concentrations for tau-fluvalinate, acrinathrin, and amitraz were 0.66, 0.26 and 0.19 µg/mL, respectively. These results indicate that polyproplyne vial tests can be used to determine discriminating concentrations for the early detection of acaricide resistant Varroa. Finally, multiple-resistance in Kyvalka may indicate metabolic resistance.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions that have improved the manuscript. We acknowledge the assistance from the beekeepers for the collection of samples from honeybee colonies. The authors are obliged to Dalibor Titera and Jaroslav Havlik for valuable comments on drafts of this manuscript and Martin Markovic for help. This study was supported by The Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, project QJ1530148.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Nutrition and Dietetics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 165 21, Prague 6-Suchdol, Czechia

    Martin Kamler

  2. Bee Research Institute at Dol, Maslovice-Dol 94, 252 66, Libcice nad Vltavou, Czechia

    Martin Kamler

  3. Laboratory of Plant Active Substances in Crop Protection, Crop Research Institute, Drnovska 507/73, 161 06, Prague 6-Ruzyne, Czechia

    Marta Nesvorna, Jitka Stara, Tomas Erban & Jan Hubert

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  1. Martin Kamler
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  2. Marta Nesvorna
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  5. Jan Hubert
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Correspondence to Jan Hubert.

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Kamler, M., Nesvorna, M., Stara, J. et al. Comparison of tau-fluvalinate, acrinathrin, and amitraz effects on susceptible and resistant populations of Varroa destructor in a vial test. Exp Appl Acarol 69, 1–9 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-016-0023-8

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