RELATIONSHIP OF THE NEUTRAL STEROLS AND ECDYSTEROIDS OF THE PARASITICMITE, VARROA-JACOBSONI TO THOSE OF THE HONEY-BEE, APIS-MELLIFERA

The neutral sterols of the parasitic mite Varroa jacobsoni were compar ed with Apis mellifera carnica drone pupae. Analysis by GLC-mass spect rometry indicated mite sterols were reflective of the sterol compositi on of the drones; 24-methylenecholesterol was the major sterol in both species, with lesser amounts of sitosterol and isofucosterol. Cholest erol accounted for less than 1% of the total sterols. Ecdysteroid anal yses indicated drones contained primarily makisterone A. In addition t o makisterone A, mites contained ecdysone and 20-hydroxyecdysone, whic h accounted for over 66% of the ecdysteroid detected. These results in dicate that while V. jacobsoni are apparently unable to convert dietar y sterols to cholesterol, they are able to produce significant amount of C-27 ecdysteroids in a low cholesterol environment.