Pests of honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera) in Turkiye: Focus on Aethina tumida (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae, Latreille 1802)

Abstract

Various bee pests that cause yield losses in honey bees and/or hive collapse. The most important is the small hive beetle (Aethina tumida), which has become one of the biggest problems of today's beekeeping. The national study investigated small hive beetles in honey bee hives for the first time in Turkiye. In addition, the distribution of moths, oil beetles, and bee lice was examined. As research material, worker bee and honeycomb samples were taken from 401 apiaries in 40 provinces throughout Turkiye. A total of 1199 healthy hives were examined parasitologically in terms of larvae and adult forms of bee pests. It has been observed that no adult small hive beetle, however, pest larvae were found in 13 hives. After morphological examination, all larval forms were identified as the great wax moth, Galleria mellonella. In conclusion, the small hive beetle, which is has not yet posed a threat to the pest to spread to Eastern Europe or Central Asia.