Chemical Varroa Lures

[domino]

This is a rather interesting piece of work by Dr Peter Teal in the US.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/ar/archive/jul09/mites0709.htm?pf=1

Essentially he's found some compounds that attract and repel the mites.

Teal is testing a bait-and-kill approach using sticky boards dosed with natural chemical attractants, called “semiochemicals.”

[..]

In nature, Varroa mites rely on the semiochemicals to locate—and then feed on the bloodlike hemolymph of—both adult bees and their brood, weakening or killing them.

His plan is to make products that attract the mites onto sticky boards. He's doing the same thing for SMB.

He talks about it here, the the audio is very bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTICrzF0UWk

It's very encouraging that there are some very good lines of research around genetic and lure treatments that hopefully in future years will allow us to manage the hives with fewer treatments.

 

[itma]

The interesting thing is that he claims to have isolated (or created) a cocktail that successfully attract varroa.
Actually doing it, rather than conceiving the idea, is the hard part!

I've long presumed that there must be some (pheromone?) signal that identifies drone brood to the mites. So I'm guessing that might be some part of what he has identified.

 

[domino]

More than that he's saying he has also isolated a repellent. So he could push these things into a trap using the repellent and lure.

 

[Skyhook]

It would be fantastic if this can be achieved. The biggest problem is not finding attractants- the mites home in on the pheremones that the larvae give off to let the nurse bees know what they need. The problem is working out a formulation that will last long enough and be strong enough to draw the mites more strongly than the larvae, or you will only catch a tiny proportion: yet without confusing the bees, causing them to neglect the brood.

 

[NickB]

I have bought a product called Kritterkill to deal with clothes-moths.
Apparently this uses the pheremones moths use to attract one another for mating....it has occurred to me that this would be a useful avenue to pursue with respect to varroa.
Imitating the pheremones given off by bee larvae runs the risk of causing confusion among the bee colony,I'd have thought?

 

[domino]

I have bought a product called Kritterkill to deal with clothes-moths.
Apparently this uses the pheremones moths use to attract one another for mating....it has occurred to me that this would be a useful avenue to pursue with respect to varroa.
Imitating the pheremones given off by bee larvae runs the risk of causing confusion among the bee colony,I'd have thought?

This Dr Teal us saying it's a scent from adult bees. So it should be okay, they'll test it. This came from stuff he did with SHB where he's saying he can lure them into traps.

 

[oliver90owner]

it has occurred to me that this would be a useful avenue to pursue with respect to varroa.

Not at all. You need to read up on the reproductive cycle of the varroa mite.

 

[itma]

...
Imitating the pheremones given off by bee larvae runs the risk of causing confusion among the bee colony,I'd have thought?

it doesn’t appear that the extra dose of semiochemicals wafting through the hive interferes with the honey bees’ normal behavior or activity to any significant degree, adds Teal

I think that "faking" the presence of drone brood might suppress/reduce real drone production, but as an occasional 'treatment' (rather than a permanent hive fixture) that shouldn't be "significantly" disruptive, should it?

 

[greengumbo]

A few groups have been studying attractants and repellents for some time now. Yves le Conte has done a fair bit of research into this recently (his talk at last years spring convention had a bit on this) as well as Calderone back in the 80s (?). If I remember it has been difficult to separate out exactly the compound from drone brood that has the attractant effect.

Some of that older work is really cool though and worth reading for interest. They use plastic dummy larvae and paint them with extracts from l4 and l5 brood to show how the varroa are attracted differently.

 

[Skyhook]

A few groups have been studying attractants and repellents for some time now. Yves le Conte has done a fair bit of research into this recently (his talk at last years spring convention had a bit on this) as well as Calderone back in the 80s (?). If I remember it has been difficult to separate out exactly the compound from drone brood that has the attractant effect.

Some of that older work is really cool though and worth reading for interest. They use plastic dummy larvae and paint them with extracts from l4 and l5 brood to show how the varroa are attracted differently.

Oh I see, L4 and L5. I thought- the difference between 14 and 15 brood? About 7%, surely?

 

[itma]

Oh I see, L4 and L5. I thought- the difference between 14 and 15 brood? About 7%, surely?

I'm presuming that GG means Instar 4 and Instar 5 -- which are larval brood development stages.

 

[greengumbo]

Sorry my caps button malfunctioned ! Yes L4 and L5 larvae. The mites got very attracted once the larvae had developed to L5. The L4 brood lack something in the cuticular volatiles so are less attractive.

 

[alanf]

I think that "faking" the presence of drone brood might suppress/reduce real drone production, but as an occasional 'treatment' (rather than a permanent hive fixture) that shouldn't be "significantly" disruptive, should it?

Less disruptive than comb trapping for instance. There's also the potential as an in hive diagnostic to monitor mite levels.

 

[Chris Luck]

Groannnnnnnnnnn.

Chris