Useful mites?

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Anthony Appleyard

House Bee
Joined
Jul 29, 2019
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Location
England
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Have you heard of any sort of mite being useful to bees?

Some mites are useful to solitary bees: see Acarinarium - Wikipedia . According to Wikipedia, facilities for useful mites to ride on female carpenter bees have evolved to an extreme, even to species where the whole front end of the female bee's abdomen contains a large "passenger cabin" for the mites to ride in. The mites eat any fungi that try to eat the bee's brood.

Carpenter bee - Wikipedia
 
In what way are Braula useful? I thought they’re just scavenging for food - particularly from the queen.
 
In what way are Braula useful? I thought they’re just scavenging for food - particularly from the queen.
And ruined your wax capping for cut comb, a fortunate side effect of Varro treatments means they are no longer an issue.
 
I think I would rather have Braula than Varroa!
One dose of thymol and they are gone!
Varroa lets face it is the flea upon the rat ( rat = exotic imports) that is spreading all the exoctic ( exotic = imported) disease!

Tin hat firmly in place!

Chons da
 
Anthony wrote about solitary bees.
Yes, and his question was, do honey bees have a similarly mutually beneficial relationship with any mites - and that’s not Braula. As far as I can see only Braula benefits from hitching a ride on the queen.

But perhaps forkytails? They don’t hitch a ride, but they do offer a bit of help to the colony by scavenging debris - don’t they?

PS: and Braula isn't a mite; it’s a fly.
 
Yes, and his question was, do honey bees have a similarly mutually beneficial relationship with any mites - and that’s not Braula. As far as I can see only Braula benefits from hitching a ride on the queen.

But perhaps forkytails? They don’t hitch a ride, but they do offer a bit of help to the colony by scavenging debris - don’t they?

PS: and Braula isn't a mite; it’s a fly.
Debate about actions of Psuedo scorpions as Varroa mite killers some years back
Cushman say this about Braula... yes it has six legs... all academic as most UK beekeepers will never see one!
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/braula.htmlChons da
 
I had braulas, but when I started to treat varroa, all braulas vanished. Vain to speak about braula any more.

Braula takes Food from bee's mouth, and a larva makes tunnels inside cappings..
 
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I have not seen any scientific results, that a beehive would have usefull mites. They only wishfull speculations.
 

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