Number of reproductive cycles of Varroa jacobsoni in honey-bee (Apis mellifera) colonies |
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Authors: | Ingemar Fries Peter Rosenkranz |
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Affiliation: | (1) Department of Entomology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, S-750 Uppsala, Sweden;(2) Bayerische Landesanstalt für Bienenzucht, Burgerbergstrasse 70, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany |
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Abstract: | Very little data exists concerning the number of reproductive cycles performed by individual Varroa mites. To understand the population dynamics of the Varroa mite it is necessary to know the number of fertile female offspring each Varroa female produces during her lifetime. The lifetime reproduction capacity of the mite consists of the mean number of fertile female offspring produced during each reproductive cycle multiplied by the mean number of cell passages. This paper describes an experimental design to estimate the number of reproductive cycles where mites are transferred to new mite-free colonies for reproduction in sealed brood cells. The data presented suggests that the mean number of reproductive cycles performed by the individual female mite is larger than previously accepted. Under optimal conditions, the mean number of reproductive cycles by Varroa females is probably greater than 1.5 but less than 2. Furthermore, the results show that the reproductive success of Varroa females going into cells to reproduce is not influenced by previous brood cycles. |
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Keywords: | Reproductive cycles Apis mellifera Varroa jacobsoni |
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