Name that mite

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

thundercat

New Bee
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
39
Reaction score
0
Location
Stockport
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
2 Double Brood + 1 Single Brood + 1 Nuc
Can anyone identify this mite?... I've seen it in the bottom tray, but I've not seen any signs of disease in the hive.

Thanks in advance
 
Looks much like a pollen mite.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAqMaDtJLwI[/ame]
 
Size

The size of the mite is pretty small - less than the size of a period. Because the bottom tray contains all the usual detritus, the dead ones are hard to spot. However, when you see one walking across the bottom tray, they are easy to see. I just pick them up with scotch tape, and then (after I have a good selection), I place the tape on a blank slide, and then it's under the microscope.

I hope that it's pollen mite; I suspected Euvarroa.
 
Doesn't the size of a period depend on the font size? Or are we talking ye olde fashioned type-writer here?

RAB
 
Size does matter

OK, the period size does depend on the font size. Bad reference.

Let me make another attempt at size. The mite size is about .7mm
 
Pollen Mite

Actually, I found a pretty good match here
http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/beemites/Species_Accounts/Pneumolaelaps.htm#Pneumolaelaps%20costai
To save you looking it up, here's the image


Pneumolaelaps_costai.jpg
 
Last edited:
Leg Count

It's definitely an arachnid.
 
I saw something very like that several years ago when Varroa had just reached Ireland and we were all examining floor board debris.
I sent it off to the Department of Agriculture entomologist to be told it was one of the various species of 'scavenging mites' which were coomon in beehives.

Ruary
 

Latest posts

Back
Top