Extended survival of the parasitic honey bee mite Tropilaelaps clareae on adult workers of Apis mellifera and Apis dorsata
Author(s)
Thomas E Rinderer; Benjamin P Oldroyd; Chariya Lekprayoon; Siriwat Wongsiri; Chuleemas Boonthai; Ratna Thapa
Abstract
The survival of adult female Tropilaelaps clareae of unknown age on caged adult workers of Apis mellifera was investigated in ambient conditions during the rainy season in northern Thailand and in an incubator maintained at 35°C and 60% RH. Under both conditions, a small percentage of T. clareae survived for three days. A similar experiment using adult T. clareae on caged adult workers of Apis dorsata produced similar results: a small percentage of mites survived for three days. The observed survival of T. clareae, whether on A. mellifera or A. dorsata, is about one day longer than previously reported. It is now clear that the highly pestiferous T. clareae could easily survive even the longest of international airline flights.
