BEE PARASITIC MITE SYNDROME .2. THE ROLE OF VARROA MITE AND VIRUSES

An unexplained high mortality was found in U. S. honey bee colonies in fested by two parasitic mites, Acarapis woodi and Varroa jacobsoni. Th e name ''parasitic mite syndrome (PMS)'' has been proposed for this co ndition. PMS is more likely to be associated with colonies that are in fested with V. jacobsoni than A.. woodi. The possible causes have not been identified. Three PMS colonies from Maine, Maryland and Virginia were found infected with Kashmir bee virus (KBV). Acute paralysis viru s (APV) was also detected in the Maine and Maryland PMS colonies. A po oled Varroa mite sample from this Maryland colony also tested positive for APV and KBV. Only KBV was detected in the pooled Varroa mite samp le from the Maine PMS colony. However, Varroa mites and adult bees fro m a Florida colony heavily infested with Varroa were both negative for APV and KBV in the immunodiffusion test and no virus particles were o bserved by electron microscopy. The role that Varroa and viruses may p lay in PMS is discussed in this report.