Tag - deformed wing virus

Dead bees are a common sight, but knowing the cause can be difficult.

parasites

We are still free of Tropilaelaps mites, but for how...

January 23, 2024

6 Comments

varroa mites

The mites are the same old mites

December 8, 2018

22 Comments

queen bees

A virgin queen bee with deformed wings

April 21, 2018

16 Comments

Many dead bees head-down in their cells.

postmortems & mysteries

Bees head-down in cells: did they starve?

February 25, 2018

38 Comments

By Xolani90 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26406168

varroa mites

It’s not about mites any more

February 15, 2017

90 Comments

varroa mites

The reason mites kill bees leaving a hive full of honey

March 28, 2013

26 Comments

diseases • parasites • varroa mites

Varroa mites feeding on a sick honey bee

December 1, 2012

23 Comments

Bees and their queen on a honeycomb. Pixabay

honey bee management • varroa mites

Regardless of dictionaries, we have in entomology a rule for insect common names that can be followed. It says: If the insect is what the name implies, write the two words separately; otherwise run them together. Thus we have such names as house fly, blow fly, and robber fly contrasted with dragonfly, caddicefly, and butterfly, because the latter are not flies, just as an aphislion is not a lion and a silverfish is not a fish. The honey bee is an insect and is preeminently a bee; “honeybee” is equivalent to “Johnsmith.”

—From Anatomy of the Honey Bee by Robert E. Snodgrass

The non-native European Honey Bee is the state insect of:

Arkansas
Georgia
Kansas
Louisiana
Maine
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
New Jersey
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Dakota
Tennessee
Utah
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Not one native bee is a state insect. The closest relative of a North American native bee to make the list is the Tarantula Hawk Wasp, the state insect of New Mexico.

Minnesota now has a state bee as well as a state insect. Bombus affinis, the Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee, has been so honored. Good work, Minnesota!

Connecticut’s state insect is the European “praying” mantis. Although they are beneficial insects, they are not native to North America.

Tag - deformed wing virus

We are still free of Tropilaelaps mites, but for how...

The mites are the same old mites

A virgin queen bee with deformed wings

Bees head-down in cells: did they starve?

It’s not about mites any more

The reason mites kill bees leaving a hive full of honey

Varroa mites feeding on a sick honey bee

HopGuard: first impressions

Deformed wing virus