Lc. Westcott et Ml. Winston, Chemical acaricides in Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera : Apidae) colonies; do they cause nonlethal effects?, CAN ENTOMOL, 131(3), 1999, pp. 363-371
Colonies of the honey bee, Apis mellifera Linnaeus, infested with the paras
itic mites Acarcrpis woodi (Rennie) (Acari: Tarsonemidae) or Varroa jacobso
ni Oudemans (Acari: Varroidae) require acaricidal treatment to control infe
stations that could affect colony growth and honey production. We investiga
ted the effects of three acaricides, fluvalinate (formulated as Apistan(R))
, formic acid, and menthol, on honey bee colony population growth, foraging
activity, adult worker longevity, and honey production. Effects of in-hive
treatments of Apistan(R) and formic acid were measured by examining colony
weight gain, brood survival, sealed-brood area, emerged-bee weight, number
of returning foragers, pollen-load weight, and worker longevity. These cha
racteristics were not different between fluvalinate-treated colonies, formi
c-acid-treated colonies, and control colonies. Adult bee population, brood
survival, number of returning foragers, and honey production did not vary a
mong menthol-treated colonies, formic-acid-treated colonies, and control co
lonies. Sealed-brood area was lower in formic-acid-treated colonies than co
ntrol colonies, but not different from menthol-treated colonies. Although n
ot statistically significant, formic-acid-treated colonies experienced lowe
r honey production than both menthol-treated and control colonies. Numbers
of workers attending the queen in the retinue and queen behaviour patterns
were not different after colonies were treated with formic acid.