Small hive beetle
Encyclopedia
The small hive beetle is a beekeeping
pest
.
Endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, the small hive beetle, Aethina tumida was first discovered in the United States in 1996 and has now spread to many U.S. states including, Georgia
, South Carolina
, North Carolina
, Pennsylvania
, Ohio
, Illinois
, Minnesota
, Missouri
, New York
, Virginia
and Hawaii
. The small hive beetle has become established in the state of Texas as well. The movement of migratory beekeepers from Florida may have transported the beetle to other states. Recent findings also indicate transport of the beetles in packages.
Internationally, the Small Hive Beetle has spread to Australia
being first identified at Richmond, NSW
in 2002. Subsequently it has affected many areas of Queensland
and New South Wales
. It is speculated that a combination of importing queens from other countries and beekeepers moving their hives has caused the spread.
The small hive beetle can be a destructive pest of honey bee colonies, causing damage to comb, stored honey and pollen. If a beetle infestation is sufficiently heavy, they may cause bees to abandon their hive. Its absence can also be a marker in the diagnosis of Colony Collapse Disorder
for honey-bees. The beetles can also be a pest of stored combs, and honey (in the comb) awaiting extraction. Beetle larvae may tunnel through combs of honey, feeding and defecating, causing discoloration and fermentation of the honey.
where it has been considered a minor pest of bees. The life cycle information is known primarily from studies in South Africa.
The small hive beetle is a member of the family of scavengers or sap beetle
s. The adult beetle is dark brown to black and about one-half centimeter in length. The adults may live up to 6 months and can be observed almost anywhere in a hive, although they are most often found on the rear portion of the bottom board of a hive. Female beetles lay irregular masses of eggs in cracks or crevices in a hive. The eggs hatch in 2–3 days into white-colored larvae that will grow to 10–11 mm in length. Larvae feed on pollen
and honey
, damaging combs, and require about 10–16 days to mature. Larvae that are ready to pupate leave the hive and burrow into soil near the hive. The pupation period may last approximately 3–4 weeks. Newly emerged adults seek out hives and females generally mate and begin egg laying about a week after emergence. Hive beetles may have 4–5 generations a year during the warmer seasons.
The primary damage to colonies and stored honey caused by the small hive beetle is through the feeding activity of the larvae. Hives and stored equipment with heavy infestations of beetles have been described as a mess. A summary taken from various reports of damage caused by these beetles is listed below:
Larvae tunnel through comb with stored honey or pollen, damaging or destroying cappings and comb.
Larvae defecate in honey and the honey becomes discolored from the feces.
Activity of the larvae causes fermentation and a frothiness in the honey; the honey develops a characteristic odor of decaying oranges.
Damage and fermentation cause honey to run out of combs, creating a mess in hives or extracting rooms.
Heavy infestations cause bees to abscond; some beekeepers have reported the rapid collapse of even strong colonies.
, and, as such, has not been the subject of major control efforts. The beetle is most often found in weak or failing hives and rarely affects strong hives. However, differences in the housecleaning traits of the bees found in South Africa and the U.S. may mean very different responses to the beetles. Some early reports from Florida and South Carolina suggest the beetles may be more damaging there than in Africa. PDB (paradichlorobenzene) has been used for protecting empty stored combs. Coumaphos
bee strips (Bayer Corporation) have been approved for use in hives for the control of small hive beetles in some states under an emergency registration.
The most effective control against small hive beetle is maintaining colony strength. Coupled with minimizing empty frames of comb, this will all but eliminate the chances of colony failure.
There are also several traps currently on the market. The more effective ones are the Hood Trap, the Freeman Beetle Trap, the West trap, the Australian, AJ's Beetle Eater and the Beetle Blaster. All these traps use non-toxic oil to suffocate the beetles. This allows beekeepers to avoid having toxic chemicals in their beehives.
To preserve the beetles for identification, it is recommended to submerse the beetle in a container or methylated spirits or vinegar. This will kill live beetles.
(Australia), infestation of hives by Small hive beetle is notifiable as a honey bee pest under the Stock Diseases Act 1923. The maximum penalty for failing to notify is $11,000.
Beekeeping
Beekeeping is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. A beekeeper keeps bees in order to collect honey and other products of the hive , to pollinate crops, or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers...
pest
Pest (animal)
A pest is an animal which is detrimental to humans or human concerns. It is a loosely defined term, often overlapping with the related terms vermin, weeds, parasites and pathogens...
.
Endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, the small hive beetle, Aethina tumida was first discovered in the United States in 1996 and has now spread to many U.S. states including, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. The small hive beetle has become established in the state of Texas as well. The movement of migratory beekeepers from Florida may have transported the beetle to other states. Recent findings also indicate transport of the beetles in packages.
Internationally, the Small Hive Beetle has spread to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
being first identified at Richmond, NSW
Richmond, New South Wales
Richmond is a town in New South Wales, north-west of Sydney, in the Local Government Area of the City of Hawkesbury. It is located at a latitude of 33° 35' 54" South and a longitude of 150°45' 04" east, 19 metres above sea level on the alluvial Hawkesbury River flats, at the foot of the Blue...
in 2002. Subsequently it has affected many areas of Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
and New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. It is speculated that a combination of importing queens from other countries and beekeepers moving their hives has caused the spread.
The small hive beetle can be a destructive pest of honey bee colonies, causing damage to comb, stored honey and pollen. If a beetle infestation is sufficiently heavy, they may cause bees to abandon their hive. Its absence can also be a marker in the diagnosis of Colony Collapse Disorder
Colony Collapse Disorder
Colony collapse disorder is a phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive or European honey bee colony abruptly disappear. While such disappearances have occurred throughout the history of apiculture, the term colony collapse disorder was first applied to a drastic rise in the number of...
for honey-bees. The beetles can also be a pest of stored combs, and honey (in the comb) awaiting extraction. Beetle larvae may tunnel through combs of honey, feeding and defecating, causing discoloration and fermentation of the honey.
Life history
Aethina tumida was previously known only from the sub-Saharan regions of AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
where it has been considered a minor pest of bees. The life cycle information is known primarily from studies in South Africa.
The small hive beetle is a member of the family of scavengers or sap beetle
Sap beetle
The sap beetles are a family of beetles.They are small ovoid, usually dull-coloured beetles, with knobbed antennae. Some have red or yellow spots or bands. They feed mainly on decaying vegetable matter, over-ripe fruit, and sap...
s. The adult beetle is dark brown to black and about one-half centimeter in length. The adults may live up to 6 months and can be observed almost anywhere in a hive, although they are most often found on the rear portion of the bottom board of a hive. Female beetles lay irregular masses of eggs in cracks or crevices in a hive. The eggs hatch in 2–3 days into white-colored larvae that will grow to 10–11 mm in length. Larvae feed on pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
and honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
, damaging combs, and require about 10–16 days to mature. Larvae that are ready to pupate leave the hive and burrow into soil near the hive. The pupation period may last approximately 3–4 weeks. Newly emerged adults seek out hives and females generally mate and begin egg laying about a week after emergence. Hive beetles may have 4–5 generations a year during the warmer seasons.
Damage to colonies and stored honey
The primary damage to colonies and stored honey caused by the small hive beetle is through the feeding activity of the larvae. Hives and stored equipment with heavy infestations of beetles have been described as a mess. A summary taken from various reports of damage caused by these beetles is listed below:
Larvae tunnel through comb with stored honey or pollen, damaging or destroying cappings and comb.
Larvae defecate in honey and the honey becomes discolored from the feces.
Activity of the larvae causes fermentation and a frothiness in the honey; the honey develops a characteristic odor of decaying oranges.
Damage and fermentation cause honey to run out of combs, creating a mess in hives or extracting rooms.
Heavy infestations cause bees to abscond; some beekeepers have reported the rapid collapse of even strong colonies.
Control
The small hive beetle is considered a secondary pest in South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, and, as such, has not been the subject of major control efforts. The beetle is most often found in weak or failing hives and rarely affects strong hives. However, differences in the housecleaning traits of the bees found in South Africa and the U.S. may mean very different responses to the beetles. Some early reports from Florida and South Carolina suggest the beetles may be more damaging there than in Africa. PDB (paradichlorobenzene) has been used for protecting empty stored combs. Coumaphos
Organophosphate
An organophosphate is the general name for esters of phosphoric acid. Phosphates are probably the most pervasive organophosphorus compounds. Many of the most important biochemicals are organophosphates, including DNA and RNA as well as many cofactors that are essential for life...
bee strips (Bayer Corporation) have been approved for use in hives for the control of small hive beetles in some states under an emergency registration.
The most effective control against small hive beetle is maintaining colony strength. Coupled with minimizing empty frames of comb, this will all but eliminate the chances of colony failure.
There are also several traps currently on the market. The more effective ones are the Hood Trap, the Freeman Beetle Trap, the West trap, the Australian, AJ's Beetle Eater and the Beetle Blaster. All these traps use non-toxic oil to suffocate the beetles. This allows beekeepers to avoid having toxic chemicals in their beehives.
To preserve the beetles for identification, it is recommended to submerse the beetle in a container or methylated spirits or vinegar. This will kill live beetles.
Regulations
In New South WalesNew South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
(Australia), infestation of hives by Small hive beetle is notifiable as a honey bee pest under the Stock Diseases Act 1923. The maximum penalty for failing to notify is $11,000.
Distribution
National Agricultural Pest Information System (NAPIS) May 2005, accessed Sep 2005Sources
- The Small Hive Beetle Department of EntomologyEntomologyEntomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
, Virginia Tech, June 1999, accessed Sep 2005 - The Small Hive Beetle: A serious threat to European apiculture Central Science LaboratoryCentral Science LaboratoryThe Central Science Laboratory was an executive agency of the UK government department the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs . It specialises in the sciences underpinning agriculture for sustainable crop production, environmental management and conservation and in food safety and...
, UK Mar 2003, accessed Sep 2005 - Somerville, Doug Study of the small hive beetle in the USA Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, , Jun 2003, accessed Sep 2005
- Ellis J, Ellis A,. (2010). Small hive beetle, Aethina tumida (Murray). Featured Creatures. 6 July 2010.
- Rhodes, John; Livestock Officer, Tamworth Small hive beetle - an in-hive control device using diatomaceous earth (2008)
- Annand, Nicholas Management options NSW DPI Australia March 2008
- HawaiiNewsNow Bee parasite the latest threat to Hawaiis honey industry May 05, 2010