International audienceVarroa destructor is a parasitic mite of the Asian honey bee, Apis cerana. Owing to host range expansion, it now plagues Apis mellifera, the world's principal crop pollinator and honey producer. Evidence from A. mellifera in far-eastern Russia, Primorsky (P) originating from honey bees imported in the mid 1800's, suggested that many colonies were resistant to V. destructor. A controlled field study of the development of populations of V. destructor shows that P colonies have a strong, genetically based resistance to the parasite. As control colonies (D) were dying with infestations of ca. 10000 mites, P colonies were surviving with infestations of ca. 4000 mites. Several characteristics of the P bees contributed to suppressing the number of mites parasitizing their colonies

No abstract

-Honey bees from the Primorsky region of far-eastern Russia were evaluated for their resistance to Acarapis woodi. Results from a field test in Louisiana showed that Primorsky honey bees showed strong resistance to tracheal mites. The Primorsky honey bees maintained nearly mite-free colonies throughout the experiment while the domestic stocks were ultimately parasitized by high levels of tracheal mites.Acarapis woodi / tracheal mite / resistance/ Varroa destructor / far-eastern Russia / Primorsky region

No abstract

No abstract