G. Moretto et Lj. De Mello, Varroa jacobsoni infestation of adult Africanized and Italian honey bees (Apis mellifera) in mixed colonies in Brazil, GENET MOL B, 22(3), 1999, pp. 321-323
Different levels of infestation with the mite Varroa jacobsoni have been ob
served in the various Apis mellifera races. In general, bees of European ra
ces are more susceptible to the mite than African honey bees and their hybr
ids. In Brazil honey bee colonies are not treated against the mite, though
apparently both climate and bee race influence the mite infestation. Six mi
xed colonies were made with Italian and Africanized honey bees. The percent
age infestation by this parasite was found to be significantly lower in adu
lt Africanized (1.69 +/- 0.44) than Italian bees (2.79 +/- 0.65). This rati
o was similar to that found in Mexico, even though the Africanized bees tes
ted there had not been in contact with varroa, compared to more than 20 yea
rs of the coexistence in Brazil. However, mean mite infestation in Brazil o
n both kinds of bees was only about a third of that found in Mexico.