The worker bees in a strong colony protect the fragile beeswax combs that hold honey, pollen, bee bread, and brood required to sustain the colony. However, whenever a colony is weakened, either by becoming queenless or through disease, hive scavengers rapidly move in and destroy the combs. The principal hive scavengers are wax moths and small hive beetles, and it is the larval stage of both of these insects that destroys the combs of unprotected hives. Wax moths have been a part of American beekeeping since the bees were brought to the New World in colonial times. However, the small hive beetle is a much more recently introduced invasive pest, having arrived from Africa in 1998. It spread across the country in just four years.
Strong honey bee colonies have plenty of workers to drive adult
beetles to the far edges of the hive where the bees build “jails” of propolis
to trap and hold beetles. If a hive loses its queen or is stressed by disease or
environmental damages, the opportunistic beetles rapidly expand their
reproduction, and small hive beetle populations explode exponentially. Beetle
reproduction is especially rapid in hot weather. Today’s photo shows beetle
larvae in a hive that lost its queen in a late summer supersedure attempt. The voracious
larvae are attracted to the protein of stored pollen. As beetle larvae devour
the hive’s pollen, honey, brood, and beeswax combs, they leave behind a “slime”
of their waste. Yeast grows on the slime which has the odor of fermenting
oranges. The odor repels honey bees and attracts small hive beetles from great
distances. The beetles’ highly sensitive antennae detect honey bee alarm
pheromone from distressed colonies small hive beetle slime odor. It often takes
the bees a full year to build their combs, and they can be destroyed quickly by
small hive beetle larvae. Scavenging beetle larvae destroy natural beeswax hive
foundation, but plastic foundation can be reused after washing away the slime
with water.
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