Apis florea in Jordan: source of the founder population
- Authors: Haddad, N , Fuchs, S , Hepburn, H Randall , Radloff, Sarah E
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6844 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011047
- Description: A recent isolated population of Apis florea has been reported from Aqaba in Jordan at the Red Sea, consisting of numerous colonies within a still limited range which apparently is expanding. This region is about 1500 km apart from its next occurrences in Sudan where it had been introduced and first detected in 1985 and about 2000 km apart from its next natural occurrences in Iran and Oman. These bees apparently have been imported by human transport, most likely by ship. This new location thus represents a major jump in the progression of the species still to fill a wide area of possible locations offering adequate living conditions. Here we attempt to track the possible origin of this new population by morphometric methods. This analysis indicated closest relation to A. florea from Oman, thus being the most likely source of this population.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Bee-hawking by the wasp, Vespa velutina, on the honeybees Apis cerana and A. mellifera
- Authors: Tan, K , Radloff, Sarah E , Li, J J , Hepburn, H Randall , Yang, Ming-Xian , Zhang, L J , Neumann, Peter
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6941 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011965
- Description: The vespine wasps, Vespa velutina, specialise in hawking honeybee foragers returning to their nests. We studied their behaviour in China using native Apis cerana and introduced A. mellifera colonies. When the wasps are hawking, A. cerana recruits threefold more guard bees to stave off predation than A. mellifera. The former also utilises wing shimmering as a visual pattern disruption mechanism, which is not shown by A. mellifera. A. cerana foragers halve the time of normal flight needed to dart into the nest entrance, while A. mellifera actually slows down in sashaying flight manoeuvres. V. velutina preferentially hawks A. mellifera foragers when both A. mellifera and A. cerana occur in the same apiary. The pace of wasp-hawking was highest in mid-summer but the frequency of hawking wasps was three times higher at A. mellifera colonies than at the A. cerana colonies. The wasps were taking A. mellifera foragers at a frequency eightfold greater than A. cerana foragers. The final hawking success rates of the wasps were about three times higher for A. mellifera foragers than for A. cerana. The relative success of native A. cerana over European A. mellifera in thwarting predation by the wasp V. velutina is interpreted as the result of co-evolution between the Asian wasp and honeybee, respectively.
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- Date Issued: 2007
Evaluation of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner as an alternative control of small hive beetles, Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae)
- Authors: Buchholz, S , Neumann, Peter , Neumann, K , Hepburn, H Randall
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6929 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011945
- Description: Small hive beetles, Aethina tumida Murray, are parasites and scavengers of honeybee colonies, Apis mellifera L., and have become an invasive species that can cause considerable damage in its new distribution areas. An effective subspecies of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (=Bt) would provide an alternative to chemical control of this pest. Therefore, we tested three different Bt strains [B. thuringiensis, var. aizawai (B401®), B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Novodor®) and B. thuringiensis var. San Diego tenebrionis (Jackpot®)] and Perizin® (3.2% coumaphos), each applied on combs with a pollen diet fed to pairs of adult beetles. This evaluates the products for the suppression of successful small hive beetle reproduction. While none of the tested Bt strains showed a significant effect on the number of produced wandering larvae, we could confirm the efficacy of coumaphos for the control of small hive beetles. We further show that it is also efficient when applied with a lower concentration as a liquid on the combs. We suggest the continued search for efficient Bt strains naturally infesting small hive beetles in its endemic and new ranges, which may become a part of the integrated management of this pest.
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- Date Issued: 2006