Varroa

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Bcrazy

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Are there two types of Varroa?:confused:
Or did they just change the name from Varroa jacobsoni to Varroa destructor?

Regards;
 
Two different kinds,one harmful,one benign,or not so harmful,we have destructor.
 
Yep absolutely correct.

A lot of beeks thought that when they changed the name from Vj to Vd that we were talking about one type of varroa.

I will be putting a few things together to try and explain the difference between the two.

Regards;
 
As promised a quick run down about Varroa.

Before I begin I must add that a colleague in Eire was asked to give a talk on Varroa. He researched this quite extensively and I will be using some of his work, his name is Ruary Rudd.

Varroa destructor was, until recently, thought to be a close related mite species to Varroa jacobsoni. Both species parasitize the Asian honey bee, Apis cerana. However, the species originally described as V. jacobsoni by Qudemans in 1904 is not the same species that also attacks Apis mellifera. The jump to mellifera probably first took place in the Philippines in the early 1960?s where imported Apis mellifera came into close contact with the infected Apis cerana. Up until 2000 scientists had not identified Varroa destructor as a separate species. This late identification in 2000 by Anderson and Trueman corrected some previous confusion and mislabelling in the scientific literature. As of 1005 the only Varroa mites that can reproduce in colonies of Apis mellifera (Western honey bee) are the Korea and Japan/Thailand genotypes of Varroa destructor.

There are several different species of Varroa, Varroa jacobsoni was found on a bee Apis cranea in 1902 by a man called Jacobson it was described by Oudemans and this mite did not damage Apis mellifera. Later on Apis mellifera came into contact with another varroa (the Korean haplotype) and researchers did not examine the beast carefully and misidentified it as Varroa jacobsoni. This mite caused devastation (as we all know) on Apis mellifera stocks.

In 1998 a scientist called Anderson checked out DNA of various mites which were called Varroa jacobsoni and found that there were six different species.

From Wikipedia;
Varroa jacobsoni mites are a relatively benign parasite of Apis cerana (Asian honey bees).
Until very recently it was thought that they were the cause of the varroatosis, a parasitic disease that plagues Western honey bees, Apis mellifera, since the early 1960s. Only in 2000 a separate species of Varroa, Varroa destructor, was positively identified as the only Varroa mites that can reproduce in colonies of Apis mellifera.



To help you to understand it better I have added what certain scientific words mean.
Haplotype; A haplotype is a set of genes in a piece of DNA that all have the same variant. This could be a little bit of a chromosome, or in organisms that don?t mix up bits of the chromosomes by crossing ?over (such as inbred Varroa mites), the whole genome.
In the case of Varroa mites, when you say it has haplotype variant A it just means the whole mite is type A.

Hope this has helped in understanding a little bit more about Varroa.

Regards;
 
I received a nice little booklet from The Food and Environment Research Agency this weekend. entitled "Managing Varroa" :ack2:

To be honest its a little scarey, and if I had read this before getting my Bees it may have even put me off getting involved. :(

However - Here I am :)
 
Two weeks ago I put Apiguard in my hive as per manufacturers instruction.
Didnt see much in the way of Varroa, so thought my Bees must be clear of the little bugs.
Yesterday I put in the second tub of Apiguard.
Just checked the Hive bottom board only to discover hundreds of the little mites.
I started counting, but gave in after 50 as I realised there was probably a hundred or so. :confused:
 
Your mate is lucky,Apistan went out of date round here in 2002,even if it was brand new.
 
As promised a quick run down about Varroa.

Before I begin I must add that a colleague in Eire was asked to give a talk on Varroa. He researched this quite extensively and I will be using some of his work, his name is Ruary Rudd.

Varroa destructor was, until recently, thought to be a close related mite species to Varroa jacobsoni. Both species parasitize the Asian honey bee, Apis cerana. However, the species originally described as V. jacobsoni by Qudemans in 1904 is not the same species that also attacks Apis mellifera. The jump to mellifera probably first took place in the Philippines in the early 1960?s where imported Apis mellifera came into close contact with the infected Apis cerana. Up until 2000 scientists had not identified Varroa destructor as a separate species. This late identification in 2000 by Anderson and Trueman corrected some previous confusion and mislabelling in the scientific literature. As of 1005 the only Varroa mites that can reproduce in colonies of Apis mellifera (Western honey bee) are the Korea and Japan/Thailand genotypes of Varroa destructor.

There are several different species of Varroa, Varroa jacobsoni was found on a bee Apis cranea in 1902 by a man called Jacobson it was described by Oudemans and this mite did not damage Apis mellifera. Later on Apis mellifera came into contact with another varroa (the Korean haplotype) and researchers did not examine the beast carefully and misidentified it as Varroa jacobsoni. This mite caused devastation (as we all know) on Apis mellifera stocks.

In 1998 a scientist called Anderson checked out DNA of various mites which were called Varroa jacobsoni and found that there were six different species.

From Wikipedia;
Varroa jacobsoni mites are a relatively benign parasite of Apis cerana (Asian honey bees).
Until very recently it was thought that they were the cause of the varroatosis, a parasitic disease that plagues Western honey bees, Apis mellifera, since the early 1960s. Only in 2000 a separate species of Varroa, Varroa destructor, was positively identified as the only Varroa mites that can reproduce in colonies of Apis mellifera.



To help you to understand it better I have added what certain scientific words mean.
Haplotype; A haplotype is a set of genes in a piece of DNA that all have the same variant. This could be a little bit of a chromosome, or in organisms that don?t mix up bits of the chromosomes by crossing ?over (such as inbred Varroa mites), the whole genome.
In the case of Varroa mites, when you say it has haplotype variant A it just means the whole mite is type A.

Hope this has helped in understanding a little bit more about Varroa.

Regards;
Hi Mo, I thought varroa were all inbred ? IE. the pregnant female laying eggs in a cell, eggs which when hatched producing both male and female mites which mate with each other .Such a closed loop giving no chance of an out crossing ?

John Wilkinson
 
Hi Mo, I thought varroa were all inbred ? IE. the pregnant female laying eggs in a cell, eggs which when hatched producing both male and female mites which mate with each other .Such a closed loop giving no chance of an out crossing ? John Wilkinson

If this was the case there would only be three species on Earth - apples, snakes and humans.

Whether due to cosmic particles or mutation due to changes in the environment etc., new species evolve.

Unless your are American and don't believe in evolution.

Which touches on the subject of whether attempts to breed varroa resistant bees are actually breeding bee tolerant varroa. But that's a different subject and we won't go there.
 
If this was the case there would only be three species on Earth - apples, snakes and humans.

Whether due to cosmic particles or mutation due to changes in the environment etc., new species evolve.

Unless your are American and don't believe in evolution.

Which touches on the subject of whether attempts to breed varroa resistant bees are actually breeding bee tolerant varroa. But that's a different subject and we won't go there.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7304562435786960616#
 
So how did varroa destructor evolve then? The varroa that attacks apis cerana is varroa jacobsoni. Where destructor came from is anyone's guess. Amaxing what that inbreeding gets up to.
 
Apparently Jacobsoni and destructa are different species from way back ?.
Humans were a little slow in recognising it !

John Wilkinson
 
(to the back ground sound of a head hitting a wall)

I'm not arguing they stem from way back but evolve they did despite their inbreeding ways.
That goes without saying:).
Mutations of genes occur without cross breeding being necessary. Surely .
The dna double helix is proving to be more complex every day.
Epigenetics point to switches ,activated by environmental changes ie switched on and off. Far too involved for my feeble brain to comprehend :svengo:.

John wilkinson
 
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