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Resistance Against Varroa and Tropilaelaps

Posted March 3, 2026

DISCLAIMER: The blog below is generally created from the research listed in the “Referenced Materials” section. This is not my research. All credit is given to these studies and researchers who are helping beekeepers better understand how we can improve our management practices.

For those beekeepers who are working to identify and split from colonies expressing hygienic behavior such as uncapping, the following study provides encouragement that your work could have a compounding effect of assisting your bees with a pest not yet reported in the USA but one that is expected to reach our shores sometime – Tropilaelaps.

Here is the abstract from the 2020 research article: Individual-Level Comparisons of Honey Bee Hygienic Behavior Towards Brood Infested with Varroa destructor or Tropilaelaps mercedesae included in the referenced material list below…

Abstract

“The mites Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman and Tropilaelaps mercedesae Anderson and Morgan are both serious threats to the Apis mellifera beekeeping industry. A trait frequently used in selection programs for V. destructor resistance is hygienic behavior, the selective removal of diseased/damaged brood. Here, we measured the level of association of the expression of hygienic behavior against both mites in A. mellifera, by observing whether the same individual bees would carry out the opening and removal of brood infested by the two parasites. The groups of bees showing these behaviors on cells artificially infested by either parasite showed a large overlap, making it appear likely that the two traits are at least closely coupled. Therefore, breeding for V. destructor resistance based on hygienic behavior could prepare A. mellifera populations for dealing with Tropilaelaps sp. mites, and vice versa. Using the same bioassay, we also compared the hygienic behavior of A. mellifera towards T. mercedesae to that of the Asiatic honey bee, Apis cerana. A. cerana workers eliminated a greater proportion of infested cells, which may in part explain the resistance of this bee to Tropilaelaps and the observation that Tropilaelaps reproduction on brood of this species is extremely rare.”

Keep an eye out for future research on this topic and know your work in trying to improve your honeybee genetics through observation and splitting from your strongest colonies could pay off with dividends in the future as our bees come into contact with another significant pest.

Referenced Materials

Drone Genetics and the Continued Honeybee Evolution

Using Propolis

Winter Torpor and CO2 Hypoxia

STOP PRETENDING.

START BEE-TENDING.

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