Observation of Varroa destructor behavior in capped worker brood of Africanized honey bees.
The behavioral activity of Varroa destructor was observed using transparent cells. Mite oviposition started at 45.0 ± 25.0 h post capping, followed by the next eggs laid at regular 27.3 ± 2.0 h intervals. On the prepupa, mites were found to feed often and there was no preference for a specific segment as a feeding site. During the pupal stage the mite fed less often and almost always at the same point. Varroa showed a preference for defecation in the posterior part of the cell. A significant association was observed between the position of the feeding point in the pupa and the defecation site on the cell wall. Displacement behavior was observed in 71 % of the infested bee larvae and a major change in the free space available for varroa in the cell occurred when the prepupa molted into a pupa.
Programa Integrado de Patología Apícola, Centro de Investigaciones Apícolas Tropicales, Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica. rcalder@una.ac.cr
Rafael A
RA
Calderón
Guisella
G
Chaves
Luis A
LA
Sánchez
Rolando
R
Calderón
D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000469:parasitology*; D005243:Feces; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D007814:Larva / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D010058:Oviposition; D012098:Reproduction; D057077:Varroidae / Q000502:physiology*