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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Chemistry Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #217758

Title: Host volatiles mediate cell invasion of honey bee brood cells by Varroa destructor

Author
item Carroll, Mark
item Teal, Peter
item Willms, Steve

Submitted to: Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/9/2007
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A female Varroa destructor mite parasitizes capped bee brood by invading the cell of a late 5th instar larvae just before the cell is capped, usually by transfer from a worker bee to the new larval host. Female mites must rely on chemical cues to successfully locate and transfer to an appropriate age host among the variabley-aged brood that exist in a hive. Scientists at CMAVE have developed an in-comb bioassay that demonstrates that female mites invade brood cells on the basis of odor alone. Unlike previous biossay designs, the in-comb biossay evaluates mite responses in situ in a hive environment filed with competing odors from similar but inappropriately-aged brood and hive components. The in-comb biossay will be used to isolate and identify the specific volatile components that mediate cell invasion behavior in Varroa mites.