Marking small hive beetles with thoracic notching: effects on longevity, flight ability and fecundity

Abstract

We tested two marking techniques for adult small hive beetles (SHB): dusting and thoracic notching. The use of blue and red chalk dusts to mark beetles was not persistent and caused early death of SHB with an average survival of 52.6 ± 23.8 and 13.9 ± 7.3 days, respectively. In contrast, notched beetles survived longer (mean = 353.6 ± 5.3 days) with the last beetle dying after 383 days. Likewise, notched beetles (presumed to be injured because of oozing hemolymph from the notched area) also lived long with an average of 193.6 ± 38.8 days. Notching also resulted in a high rate of recovery; 81% for beetles introduced directly into a nucleus colony, and 59% and 66% for a nucleus colony and pole traps, respectively, for beetles released inside a screen tent. These high recovery rates confirmed that notching did not interfere with the beetles’ ability to fly. However, it appeared that notched females laid more eggs than those that were not notched both with multiple (171.70 ± 11.20 vs 126.87 ± 10.27 eggs per day) and single (70.02 ± 5.45 vs 57.97 ± 5.12 eggs per day) pairs for a period of 1–3 days. Whether or not notching affects lifetime fecundity of females was not assessed in this study. Nevertheless, notching is a permanent mark for SHB and thus, may be useful in many ecological studies or in studying the efficacy of lures and traps for SHB control.