Source:University of Maryland Honey bee colonies around the world are at risk from a variety of threats, including pesticides, diseases, poor nutrition and habitat loss. Recent research suggests that one threat stands well above the others: a parasitic mite, Varroa destructor, which specializes in attacking…
A nearly three-decade-old mystery of mass honeybee mortality appears to have been solved by researchers in the UK. The collapse of bee colonies in France during the mid- to late-1990s was widely blamed on the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid, but new research has revealed the likely…
I gotta laugh at this story. Reporters show up to cover the removal of a large colony in El Paso, TX. They had suited up for the story, but I don’t think the beekeepers told them that you can still be stung through a bee…
As a beekeeper, we were already well aware of this fact: the honey in most supermarkets isn’t fully honey. The group’s food scientists say that over three quarters of the honey sold in American supermarkets and drug stores may not be what the bees created,…
The minors, who were not identified by police, have been charged with three felonies — criminal mischief in the first degree, agricultural animal facilities offenses and burglary in the third degree, as well as an aggravated misdemeanor, possession of burglars tools. The damage was not…
More bad news about neonics. This time, the neonics are finding their way into honey based on the results of a new study. To get a better sense of just how widespread neonic contamination is, Mitchell and his colleagues analyzed 198 worldwide honey samples collected…
The Pentagon has requested that the planes treat more than 6 million acres throughout the Houston area. The Air Force noted that the current effort is “expected to significantly surpass previous [spraying] missions in scope,” specifically the spraying campaigns that followed Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.…
“The Varroa mite is the worst threat to honeybee health worldwide,” said Zachary Huang, MSU entomologist. “They have developed resistance to many pesticides, so it’s urgent that we explore and target these genes to develop better control methods.” Earlier research has shown that a combination…
Bees seem to understand the idea of zero – the first invertebrate shown to do so. When the insects were encouraged to fly towards a platform carrying fewer shapes than another one, they apparently recognised “no shapes” as a smaller value than “some shapes”. In…
In an article recently published in the Entomological Society of America’s Environmental Entomology, researchers argue that the Varroa mite has “co-opted” several honeybee behaviors to its own benefit, allowing it to disperse widely even though the mite itself is not a highly mobile insect. The…
