Washington, Jan 4 (ANI): Researchers have revealed a new threat to honeybees from the tiny but dangerous phorid fly, shedding light on the bees' well-publicized Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a syndrome characterized by worker bees abandoning their hive.
The honeybee Apis mellifera has experienced recent unexplained die-offs around the world. Although catastrophic losses of honeybee colonies have occurred in the past, the magnitude and speed of recent hive losses appear unprecedented.
So far, the main causal suspects have been parasitic mites, fungal parasites, viral diseases and interactions amongst them.
In the new study co-authored by NHM entomologist Dr. Brian Brown, the researchers provided the first documentation that the phorid fly Apocephalus borealis, previously known to only parasitize bumblebees, also infects and eventually kills honeybees - by leading them to abandon their hives at night.
Brown has received reports of nighttime bee activity in Los Angeles.
"It seems to be concentrated near the coast, which is where our collecting has also encountered the flies," he said.
The researchers prove that parasitized honeybees show hive abandonment behaviour, leaving their hives at night and dying shortly thereafter.
On average, seven days later, up to 13 phorid larvae emerge from each dead bee and pupate away from the bee.
Using DNA barcoding, the authors confirmed that phorids that emerged from honey bees and bumblebees were the same species.
The study will be published on January 3, 2012 in the authoritative magazine PLoS ONE. (ANI)
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