Bee health

Question 1

What does monoecious mean

Answer 1

Plant has male and female organs on same plant but not always same flower

Question 2

What does hermaphroditic mean

Answer 2

Plant has male and female organs on the same flower

Question 3

What does dioecious mean

Answer 3

Male and female organs in separate individual plants

Question 4

What can wild bees do that honey bees can’t e.g to fertilise tomatoes/aubergines

Answer 4

Disconnect flight muscles and vibrate the flower to get pollen out of long tubular male structures of some plants

Question 5

What continent is the honeybees native range

Answer 5

Africa

Question 6

Formula for life stages of honey bees

Answer 6

Egg for 3 days, larvae goes through 5 moults while fed by nurse bees –> get capped after 12 days and undergo pupation and metamorphosis and emerge around day 23 as worker bees

Question 7

Why do we import queen bees from abraod

Answer 7

Better genetic

Question 8

Why are honey bees an especially vulnerable host

Answer 8

All have similar genetics and live in close proximity

Question 9

What is chronic bees paralysis

Answer 9

Viral disease causing trembling symptoms (looks similar to pesticide poisoning)

Question 10

What are type 1 and 2 of chronic bee paralysis

Answer 10

Type 1 is first: trembling, flightless
Type 2 happens when bees are attacked by sisters = ‘black robbers/mal noir’ –> hairless, black greasy bees with nibbled sings

Question 11

Difference in presentation of colony with pesticide poisoning vs chronic bee paralusys

Answer 11

In pesticide poisoning will see carpets of dead bees
In chornic bee paralysis willjust see smaller numbers of dead bees being dumped out of the entrance of the hive

Question 12

What is the cause of most honeybee deaths in the UK

Answer 12

varroa destructor

Question 13

How does varroa destructor work

Answer 13

Drinks the haemolymph of bees
Enters larvae just before capping and replicates during metamorphosis; injects viruses and suppresses immune function

Question 14

Symptoms of varroa destructor

Answer 14

Shortening of wings and abdomen - may see mites
Get colony losses especially in winter

Question 15

Where did the varroa destructor mite originally come from

Answer 15

Asian honeybee

Question 16

What is the cause of european foulbrood

Answer 16

-Melissococcus plutonius = gram +ve non-spore forming anaerobe

Question 17

How does foulbrood cause issues

Answer 17

Infects larvae around 1-3 days old; larvae change colour from cream to yellow then brown and become flaccid and opaque

Question 18

What bee disease is notifiable

Answer 18

American and European foulbrood

Question 19

Where does Asian hornet cause an issue

Answer 19

France

Question 20

What anatomical adaptation has the tropilae mite done

Answer 20

The front legs have adapted to antennae

Question 21

Regulations on importing live bees

Answer 21

Can only import queen with up to 20 attendants

Question 22

Regulations on importing live bees

Answer 22

Can only import queen with up to 20 attendants

Question 23

Involvement of vets in bee and honey imports

Answer 23

Bees: need health certificate and vet check at border control post
Honey imports need certification by an official veterinarian

Question 24

Involvement of vets in bee and honey imports

Answer 24

Bees: need health certificate and vet check at border control post
Honey imports need certification by an official veterinarian

Question 25

What must we do with honey if the bees have been treated with drugs for american foulbrood

Answer 25

Store honey for 6 months

Question 26

What are most UK bee drugs related to the control of

Answer 26

Varroa mites

Question 27

How does oxalic acid work for varroa mite

Answer 27

Via direct contact BUT kills brood so must keep away from brood

Question 28

Which drug can be used to kill varroa mites and CAN be exposed to brood

Answer 28

Thymol

Question 29

What is the advantage of formic acid for treating varroa

Answer 29

Can kill mites under max products when they’re in pupae (sealed up)

Question 30

How does tau flavulinate work to kill varroa

Answer 30

Toxic to both mites AND bees but works via size difference

Question 31

key difference between european and american foulbrood

Answer 31

Bactera in European foulbrood (melissococcus plutonius) is non-spore forming

Question 32

What is the causative agent of american foulbrood

Answer 32

Paenibacillus larvae