New Asian types of Varroa destructor: a potential new threat for world apiculture

Nouveaux types asiatiques de Varroa destructor : une menace potentielle pour l'apiculture mondiale

Maria Navajas , Denis L. Anderson , Lilia I. de Guzman , Zachary Y. Huang , Jeremy Clement , Ting Zhou , Yves Le Conte

The invasion of the Western honey bee, Apis mellifera, by Varroa destructor is attributed to two mitochondrial haplotypes (K and J) that shifted last century from their primary host the Eastern honey bee, A. cerana, in north-east Asia. Here, mitochondrial DNA sequences (cox1, cox3, atp6 and cytb: 2700 base pairs) were obtained from mites infesting both Eastern and Western honeybees (respectively 21 and 11 colonies) from Asia including regions where the shifts first occurred. A total of eighteen haplotypes were uncovered in Asia (11 on A. cerana and 7 on A. mellifera). Two new variants of the K haplotype and two of the J haplotype were found on Western honeybees in what appeared to be well-established infestations. New haplotypes may represent a potential threat to A. mellifera worldwide. The extreme lack of polymorphism in the K and J haplotypes outside of Asia, can now be plausibly explained as being due to genetic 'bottlenecks' that occurred in Asia before and after mites shifted from their original Eastern honeybee host.

Mots clés: Apis mellifera; Apis cerana; Varroa; mitochondrial DNA/diversity<br>---<br>Varroa destructor; Asie; risque sanitaire; haplotype; ADN mitochondrial

Domaines: Zoologie des invertébrés; Biodiversité; Ecologie, Environnement; Science des productions animales

Maria Navajas, Denis L. Anderson, Lilia I. de Guzman, Zachary Y. Huang, Jeremy Clement, et al.. New Asian types of Varroa destructor: a potential new threat for world apiculture. Apidologie, 2010, 41 (2), pp.181-193. ⟨10.1051/apido/2009068⟩. ⟨hal-00892044⟩