Pseudoscorpions: the forgotten beneficials inside beehives and their potential for management for control of varroa and other arthropod pests
Author(s)
BARRY J DONOVAN AND FLORA PAUL
Volume
86
Issue
4
Published Date
12/31/2005
Pages
83 to 87
Abstract
Following the adoption of clean-sawn hives and movable frames beginning about 130 years ago, European beekeeping appears to have inadvertently lost what could be an extremely important component of honey bee colonies which probably protected them from many insect and mite enemies – pseudoscorpions. In fact pseudoscorpions were lost from Europe before much information at all was obtained about them. They have been so forgotten and overlooked that they are not mentioned in a 1982 review of associates of social insects,19 a 2001 review of the prospective biocontrol agents of varroa,12 or a 2004 review of the small hive beetle and the possibilities of biological control.16 Now with hives reeling from the onslaught of varroa in particular, but also other enemies such as tracheal mite disease and Tropilaelaps, and the small hive beetle, we speculate that restoring appropriate species of pseudoscorpions to our bee colonies could possibly help save our bees.
