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Mite infestation during development alters the in-hive behaviour of adult honeybees

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Abstract

Honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera) host a number of parasites, among which the mite Varroa destructor has been implicated in colony losses recorded around the world in recent years. Although many studies have been carried out on the direct and indirect damage caused by the mite to its host, the possible influence of mite infestation on the in-hive behaviour of honeybees has received little attention so far; moreover, to our knowledge, no behavioural study has been performed on adult bees infested during the pupal stage, which is when the mite causes most of its detrimental effects. In order to assess any possible consequence of infestation on the in-hive behaviour of honeybees, we carried out detailed observations on adult bees artificially infested during the pupal stage. We recorded a higher proportion of inactive bees among the infested ones; moreover, we observed that infested bees are less involved in tending larvae and dealing with hive duties compared to their uninfested mates. These results allow to draw some hypotheses which could be tested using the infestation method presented here.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture (MIPAAF): research project “Apenet - Ricerca e Monitoraggio in Apicoltura”. We gratefully acknowledge Ricarda Scheiner for critically reading the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Udine, Udine, Italy

    Desiderato Annoscia, Fabio Del Piccolo, Francesca Covre & Francesco Nazzi

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  1. Desiderato Annoscia
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  2. Fabio Del Piccolo
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  3. Francesca Covre
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  4. Francesco Nazzi
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Correspondence to Desiderato Annoscia or Francesco Nazzi.

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Manuscript editor: Peter Rosenkranz

Une infestation d'acariens au cours du développement modifie le comportement des abeilles adultes à l'intérieur de la ruche

Apis mellifera / Varroa destructor / virus / DWV / comportement / activité intra-ruche

Der Milbenbefall während der Entwicklung verändert das Verhalten von adulten Honigbienen innerhalb des Stockes

Apis mellifera / Varroa destructor / deformed wing virus / Verhalten / Verhalten im Bienenstock

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Annoscia, D., Del Piccolo, F., Covre, F. et al. Mite infestation during development alters the in-hive behaviour of adult honeybees. Apidologie 46, 306–314 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-014-0323-0

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