Grooming by honey bees as a component of varroa resistant behavior

Abstract

Grooming behavior of honey bees can be considered in two major categories: autogrooming or self-grooming and inter-bee grooming, called allogrooming. Allogrooming can be one-on-one, or social, involving several nestmates acting collaboratively. In addition, some house bees become allogrooming specialists, and for them grooming their nestmates can be a full-time occupation for most of their lives. Early observations on the Eastern honey bee, Apis cerana, recorded autogrooming, one-on-one, and social allogrooming, all of which result in dead, visibly mutilated varroa mites falling to the hive floor. Similar behavior has been sought in the Western honey bee. Apis mellifera, with variant observations for the different subspecies. Most descriptions relate to A. m. carnica, some to A. m. ligustica, but with one notable exception, almost none to A. m. mellifera. The most impressive findings are from “Africanized” bees, which provide some of the best cases of natural, long-lasting tolerance to varroa mites in A. mellifera, although even some of these are controversial. The speed of both autogrooming and allogrooming responses is generally reported to be much slower in A. mellifera than in A. cerana, and the frequency and degree of damage to mites are also lower. Serious damage, such as severance of limbs and gashes of the idiosoma, shows a heritability (h²) of around .16 in A. mellifera overall.