Reproduction of ectoparasitic mites in a coevolved system: Varroa spp.-Eastern honey bees, Apis cerana.

ABSTRACT: Parasite host shifts can impose a high selective pressure on novel hosts. Even though the coevolved systems can reveal fundamental aspects of host-parasite interactions, research often focuses on the new host-parasite relationships. This holds true for two ectoparasitic mite species, Varroa destructor and Varroa jacobsonii, which have shifted hosts from Eastern honey bees, Apis cerana, to Western honey bees, Apis mellifera, generating colony losses of these pollinators globally. Here, we study infestation rates and reproduction of V. destructor and V. jacobsonii haplotypes in 185 A. cerana colonies of six populations in China and Thailand to investigate how coevolution shaped these features. Reproductive success was mostly similar and low, i

SUBMITTER: Wang S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7771172 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature