Distribution of the tracheal mite, Acarapis woodi, among the mesothoracic tracheal trunks of the honey bee, Apis mellifera

Abstract

The selection of honey-bee tracheal trunks by host-seeking tracheal mites, Acarapis woodi, was examined in 307 samples of worker honey bees. The number of bees with 0, 1, and 2 infested tracheal trunks was determined for each sample and compared to an expected distribution based on the assumption that the probability that a tracheal trunk is infested is the same for all tracheal trunks. A Monte-Carlo simulation technique was employed to evaluate the significance of the test statistic. Observed distributions of bees with 0, 1, and 2 infested tracheal trunks were found to differ significantly from the expected distributions in 74 of the 307 samples. There were more uninfested bees and bilaterally infested bees than expected in all 74 cases. Further analysis revealed that the left and right tracheal trunks were equally likely to be infested.