Beekeeping in Belize, Central America, with notes on diseases and parasites
Author(s)
R. A. Nunamaker, W. T. Wilson , M. Cal, L. Choate And G. Tween
Abstract
Many economic changes and serious biological events have confronted the beekeeping industry of the Western hemisphere in recent years. Consequently, a knowledge of apiculture in Central America has become increasingly important, as this narrow neck of land serves as the bridge over which the Africanized honeybee (Apis mellifera scutellata) must pass on its way to North America. Furthermore, with the discovery in 1979 of the tracheal mite (Acarapis woodi) in Colombia and the finding of this parasite in Mexico during a research expedition in 1980, it has become vital that we know the health of honeybee colonies in the transitional zone between North and South America. Colonies in some Central American countries, such as Panama, remained free of the tracheal mite even after the Africanized bee became established.
