Rinderer Th.E., De Guzman L.I., Delate G.T., Stelzer J.A., Lancaster V.A., Kuznetsov V.N., Beaman L., Watts R., Harris J.W.
Apidologie 2001; 32(4): 381-394
Varroa destructor is a parasitic mite of the Asian honey bee, Apis cerana. Owing to host range expansion, it now plagues Apis mellifera, the world's principal crop pollinator and honey producer. Evidence from A. mellifera in far-eastern Russia, Primorsky (P) originating from honey bees imported in the mid 1800's, suggested that many colonies were resistant to V. destructor. A controlled field study of the development of populations of V. destructor shows that P colonies have a strong, genetically based resistance to the parasite. As control colonies (D) were dying with infestations of ca. 10000 mites, P colonies were surviving with infestations of ca. 4000 mites. Several characteristics of the P bees contributed to suppressing the number of mites parasitizing their colonies.
