Ilyasov R.A., Takahashi J.I., Lee M.L., Proshchalykin M.Yu., Lelej A.S., Kwon H.W., Danilenko V.N., Nikolenko A.G.
В журнале Biology Bulletin Reviews
Год: 2022 Том: 12 Номер: 5 Страницы: 516-526
Species of the genus Varroa are ectoparasitic mites of the Apis honey bees. Unlike the well-known species of mites V. destructor and V. jacobsoni, V. underwoodi is still poorly studied. According to foreign publications, the currently recognized distribution of V. underwoodi in the A. cerana population includes Nepal, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, and China. Recently it was discovered in the Russia (Primorsky Krai) on the honey bees A. cerana ussuriensis. Since V. destructor and V. jacobsoni have the ability to easily switch to other bee species, there is a possibility that later V. underwoodi may also extensively switch from Asian honey bees A. cerana to European honey bees A. mellifera. The first case of V. underwoodi parasitizing in A. mellifera colonies was recorded in Papua New Guinea. The parasitic mite V. underwoodi requires careful study, since it is a new potential parasite of honey bees A. mellifera, which can also bring new species and strains of viruses and bacteria, change the composition of the gut microbiome, and disrupt the protective and adaptive mechanisms of the bees. The article presents the data on morphometry and polymorphism of the gene COX1 of mtDNA. Varroa underwoodi was compared with other mite species V. destructor and V. jacobsoni. The mean genetic divergence and p-distance between V. underwoodi and other Varroa species were 9% and 0.09, respectively, which are consistent with the level of species differences in insects. The nucleotide sequences of the gene COX1 of mtDNA of V. underwoodi from Primorsky Krai of Russia LC532104 and from the Jilin province of China MH205176 turned out to be identical and were assigned to the China 1 MH205176 haplotype. It is assumed that there is continuous migration between the A. cerana populations of Russia and China, which led to the spread of V. underwoodi in the natural population of A. cerana ussuriensis in the Primorsky Krai of Russia, and the mite is currently distributed up to 45.06°N. Thus, the northern border of the V. underwoodi range is located on the territory of Russian Far East and, probably, coincides with the range of A. cerana ussuriensis. It is likely that the selection of A. mellifera bee colonies for hygienic behavior against the V. destructor mite may also be effective against V. underwoodi and will prevent the possible transition of V. underwoodi from Asian A. cerana to European A. mellifera.
