Abstract
The natural control of the tracheal mite, Acarapiswoodi, of the honey bee depends greatly on good foragingopportunities for bee colonies and on limited competition between colonies. Thesevere, widely-publicised disease of bees, referred to as ‘the Isle ofWight disease’ in Britain early in the last century when colonies weremore numerous than subsequently, was wrongly attributed to the mite, whichcauses no overt symptoms. The disease was almost certainly caused by beeparalysis virus, which does cause the symptoms and is independent of the mite,and which is similarly associated with large densities of bee colonies.
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Bailey, L., Perry, J. The natural control of the tracheal mite of honey bees. Exp Appl Acarol 25, 745–749 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016304900251
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016304900251