Effectiveness of control strategies for Varroa jacobsoni and Tropilaelaps mercedesae in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Apiculture in the Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is under significant pressure from emerging parasitic mites, Varroa jacobsoni and Tropilaelaps mercedesae.While numerous mite control products exist, beekeepers in Papua New Guinea have limited access and resources for these products and their effectiveness under local conditions is untested. Here we determined the effectiveness of two brood manipulation strategies -queen caging and queen removal -for managing V. jacobsoni and T. mercedesae in comparison to the chemical miticide Bayvarol®. Our results found Bayvarol® was the most effective control strategy for V. jacobsoni, maintaining high efficacy (>90%) over four months with significantly reduced mean numbers of V. jacobsoni compared to untreated control hives. In contrast, mean numbers of T. mercedesae were significantly reduced by the brood manipulation strategies over two months, but not by Bayvarol® compared to the controls. These results highlight that a combination of different strategies is likely needed to effectively manage both mite pests in PNG. We discuss how these strategies could be optimised and adopted to achieve better mite management for PNG beekeepers.

First Evidence of Presence of Varroa underwoodi Mites on Native Apis cerana Colonies in Primorsky Territory of Russia Based on COX1 Gene

“…As has been the case for V. destructor and V. jacobsoni, rare events can lead to interspecies host switches with devas-tating effects (Rosenkranz et al, 2010;Roberts et al, 2015). Because the V. underwoodi samples are genetically closest to V. destructor samples that are a common parasite of both A. mellifera and A. cerana, V. underwoodi also has a high probability to host switch and parasitizing on A. mellifera (Roberts et al, 2020). The infestation rate by V. underwoodi was significantly higher in China's northern provinces than in its southern ones (Wang et al, 2019).…”

“…Although evidence for V. underwoodi reproduction was only found in A. cerana, the frequent reports on this mite species appearing in the colonies of other species suggested abundant opportunities for cross-species transmission. V. underwoodi is especially dangerous to A. mellifera colonies because they are kept near A. cerana colonies in most Asian countries (Zheng et al, 2011(Zheng et al, , 2018Chantawannakul et al, 2016;Wang et al, 2019;Roberts et al, 2020). Varroa species haplotypes have different virulence for host species and only K and J of the V. destructor six haplotypes are capable of reproducing on A. mellifera (Anderson, 2000;Anderson & Trueman, 2000;Muñoz et al, 2008).…”

Honey vs. Mite—A Trade-Off Strategy by Applying Summer Brood Interruption for Varroa destructor Control in the Mediterranean Region

“…It is essential to highlight that the brood break is also an effective control method for Tropilaelaps spp. mite [ 47 ], a new possible threat to the European beekeeping industry [ 48 ]. From an economic point of view, it is possible to reduce costs since low V. destructor infestation leads to lower cost requirements for treatments, higher quality products, vital colonies, higher survival rates, and fewer winter colony losses which, according to Popovska Stojanov et al [ 49 ], has substantial economic negative consequences on the overall beekeeping operation.…”