Honey bee colonies that have survived Varroa destructor

Yves Le Conte (1) , Gérard de Vaublanc (1) , Didier Crauser (1) , François Jeanne (2) , Jean-Claude Rousselle (3) , Jean-Marc Bécard (1)

1 UAPV - Unité mixte de recherche Ecologie des invertébrés
2 OPIDA
3 GDS de la Sarthe et Rucher Ecole

We document the ability of a population of honey bee colonies to survive in France without Varroa suppression measures. We compared the mortality of collected Varroa surviving bee (VSB) stock with that of miticide-treated Varroa-susceptible colonies. Varroa infestation did not induce mortality in the VSB colonies. Some of the original colonies survived more than 11 years without treatment and the average survival of the experimental colonies was 6.54 ± 0.25 years. Swarming was variable (41.50 ± 9.94%) depending on the year. Honey production was significantly higher (1.7 times) in treated than in VSB colonies. For the first time since Varroa invaded France, our results provide evidence that untreated local honey bee colonies can survive the mite, which may be the basis for integrated Varroa management.

Mots clés: GESTION INTEGREE; SOCIAL INSECT; POLLINATOR; SURVIVAL; COLONY; INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT; APIDAE; HYMENOPTERA; MESOSTIGMATA; APIS MELLIFERA; HONEY BEE; NATURAL SELECTION; INSECTE SOCIAL; HOST-PARASITE RELATIONSHIP; SELECTION NATURELLE

Mots clés: APIFORMES; ACARI; VARROA DESTRUCTOR; TOLERANCE; ABEILLE DOMESTIQUE; POLLINISATEUR; PARASITE; RELATION HOTE-PARASITE; SURVIE; COLONIE

Domaines: Sciences agricoles

Yves Le Conte, Gérard de Vaublanc, Didier Crauser, François Jeanne, Jean-Claude Rousselle, et al.. Honey bee colonies that have survived Varroa destructor. Apidologie, 2007, 38, pp.566-572. ⟨10.1051/apido:2007040⟩. ⟨hal-02658994⟩