Species composition and diversity of mites associated with honeybees Apis mellifera L in the Egyptian apiaries

Abstract

Honeybees are social insects that live in colonies and play an important role in agricultural production. These insects are the main source of honey in additional to other products such as: royal jelly, wax and pollen, as well some other products like propolis and poison that can be used as a treatment for certain human diseases. However, the important role of that bees play in pollinating crops cannot be overlooked, as bees are the most common insect species. Also, one third of the food consumed daily depends on the role of bees in pollination crops. On the other hand, a lot of mites take honeybees as a suitable habitat including nonparasitic, omnivorous, and pollen-feeding species, and parasites. The latter may cause severe diseases for bees. The bio-relationships between mites and bees have been attracted the attention of many researchers, they concluded that the association between mites and bees could be ecto or endo parasites, phoretic, exudate feeders, predaceous and fungivorous. So, it was necessary to throw more light on mites in honeybees’ colonies and apiaries. From the following data it can be announced that, a total of 30 species of mites belonging to 15 families have been recorded from different governorates of Egypt. Some collected mites were predators on other mites and small arthropods, while others feed on pollen, old provisions or use the honeybees just for transport from a place to another. The Varroa destructor was the most collected and the most dangerous parasitic mite of the honeybee, A. mellifera L worldwide collected from all the studied governorates of Egypt.