An ecological digest of the small hive beetle (Aethina tumida), a symbiont in honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera)

Abstract

The small hive beetle (Aethina tumida Murray) is an endemic scavenger in colonies of western honey bee subspecies (Apis mellifera L.) inhabiting sub-Saharan Africa where it only occasionally damages host colonies. Such damage is usually restricted to weakened/diseased colonies or is associated with after absconding events (all bees, including the queen, leave the hive) due to behavioral resistance mechanisms of its host. In sharp contrast, the beetle has proven deleterious to honey bee colonies in introduced ranges of the United States and Australia. With this review we synthesize the existing data in a manner that allows us to discuss the beetle's natural history from an ecological perspective. A thorough exploration of beetle ecology allows us to 1) illuminate the unique symbiotic relationship it and its host share and understand how this relationship is fostered, 2) place this relationship in context with those of other arthropods inhabiting social insect colonies, 3) understand its natural reliance on honey bee colonies, 4) predict its spread outside its native range, and 5) predict its effects on non-African honey bees and non-target species. Here we present an amalgamation of information that will contribute to a more thorough and appropriate understanding of not only small hive beetles as symbionts, but of social insect symbionts in general.

The defensive response of the honeybee Apis mellifera

“…Guard bees will surround this area, confining the beetles to it. Nevertheless, the beetles are still able to survive under such conditions because they can trick their hosts into feeding them through trophallaxis, a mouth-to-mouth food exchange (Atkinson and Ellis, 2011;Ellis and Hepburn, 2006). Within the natural range of this beetle, honeybees (Apis mellifera capensis) will further encapsulate the beetles with propolis (Neumann et al, 2001).…”

Conservation of Asian honey bees

“…Originally from sub-Saharan Africa (Dietemann et al, 2009), this pest has recently spread to Australia, the United States of America and Egypt (Mostafa and Williams, 2002;Neumann and Elzen, 2004;Ellis and Hepburn, 2006) where it causes significant damage, especially in warm, wet climates. The pest normally lives saprophitically on falling debris from a honey bee colony.…”

“…The pest normally lives saprophitically on falling debris from a honey bee colony. Mostly the bees confine the adult beetles to unreachable crevices (Ellis and Hepburn, 2006). Occasionally, however, the beetles are able to overwhelm the host colony's defences.…”

A DNA method for screening hive debris for the presence of small hive beetle (Aethinatumida)

“…The small hive beetle, (Aethina tumida Murray: Coleoptera, Nitidulidae, = SHB), is a minor pest of African honey bee colonies (Neumann and Elzen, 2004;Neumann and Härtel, 2004), that has recently become a harmful invasive species (Hood, 2004;Neumann and Elzen, 2004;Ellis and Hepburn, 2006). The beetle has attainted pest status in around 30 states in North America (Hood, 2004) where the economic impact on the Apiculture industry has been significant (Taber and Hood, 2000;Neumann and Elzen, 2004; The objective of this research was to develop a fast extraction protocol in conjunction with a real-time PCR assay to enable rapid identification of the SHB life stages, as well as screening of hive debris for detection of SHB -the method may be a valuable tool to test the many thousands of hive samples that might be submitted for laboratory diagnosis in the event of an incursion.…”