© Maggie Gill 2024
Tropilaelaps research
What are Tropilaelaps?
Tropilaelaps spp. are parasitic mites which naturally infest the giant Asian honey bee, Apis dorsata. When the Western honey bee Apis mellifera were introduced to Asia Tropilaelaps jumped species. Unfortunately, the western honey bee has no natural resistance to this mite and this has caused significant colony losses.
Tropilaelaps has since spread outside of Asia and were detected in Europe for the first time in 2024 in Georgia and the Krasnodar region of Russia. Climate change and increased global trade means that most of the world is now at risk from this damaging parasitic mite.
Detection and surveillance
The team carried out vital work to test and improve existing detection methods, and develop new methods for detecting Tropilaelaps in honey bee (A. mellifera) colonies. Being only 1 mm long, 0.5 mm wide and very fast moving it is difficult to spot Tropilaelaps mites. The damage they cause in a colony of bees and can be very similar to that of Varroa destructor, making diagnosis difficult. Early detection is crucial to preventing their spread, and this work has seen improvements in Tropilaelaps surveillance techniques around the world.
Giant Asian honey bee (Apis dorsata) colony filmed in Thailand.
© Maggie Gill 2024
Survival and transmission
Our research has also examined the survivability of Tropilaelaps, as their ability to survive in different scenarios and the length of time they can endure has important implications to their spread around the world. We demonstrated that these mites can survive for longer than previously observed on matrices such as dead larvae and adult bees.
Miticide resistance
We also investigated the efficacy of commercially available synthetic miticides and found widespread mite resistance to these chemicals.
