Subject: ARS NEWS --The "Yugo" Bee

From: [email-masked] (Adam Finkelstein)
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 1994 12:09:42 GMT

THREE BREEDERS SELECTED TO PROPAGATE MITE-RESISTANT QUEENS
 
     May 1993--Three honey bee breeders have been selected to
propagate new Yugoslavian bees that have resistance to two
damaging mites, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced.
     The Yugoslavian bees, Apis mellifera carnica, are the
first insects that USDA's Agricultural Research Service has
ever released for breeding, said Thomas F. Rinderer, who heads
the agency's Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology
Laboratory in Baton Rouge, La.
     The three companies will maintain the Yugoslavian bee
stock and sell breeder queens to queen producers, Rinderer
said.  The lab will send about 40 queens to each company--
Hybri-Bees, Inc. of LaBelle, Fla., Taber's Honey Bee Genetics
of Vacaville, Calif., and John Klapac & Co. of Frederick, Md. 
They were selected by a Stock Release Panel comprised of ARS
and industry representatives.
     Rinderer said the three will rear breeder queens that can
pass along resistance to varroa and tracheal mites.  "These
queens will be sold to queen breeders.  We've already had more
than 100 queen breeders express interest in buying them,"
Rinderer said.
     The Yugoslavian bees--designated ARS-Y-C-1--have been
under study since 1984 in a joint project between ARS
scientists and researchers in the former Yugoslavia.  The bees
were first quarantined in this country in 1989 and later
reared for field tests before being released to the three
breeders.
     The bees are twice as resistant to varroa mites as
susceptible domestic bees, but would still require some
chemicals to control severe outbreaks, Rinderer said.
     But the Yugoslavian bees are so resistant to tracheal
mites that chemical controls for that pest probably would not
be needed.  He estimated that the resistant stock could save
beekeepers $2 per colony in tracheal mite treatments.
     Domestic bees are susceptible to the two mites that have
caused extensive losses since they were discovered in the
United States in the mid-1980s, he added.  The mites are
considered a serious agricultural threat because bees
pollinate billions of dollars worth of crops each year as they
move among plants in search of nectar and pollen.
     Three chemicals are registered to control the mites: 
menthol and amitraz for tracheal mites, and fluvalinate for
varroa.  A fourth chemical, formic acid, is pending approval
for use against both mites.
     Queen breeders interested in buying breeder queens of the
new stock can contact the companies at the following
addresses:
     Hybri-Bees, Inc., 471 N. Lee Street, LaBelle, Fla.  33935;
Taber's Honey Bee Genetics, P.O. Box 1672, Vacaville, Calif. 
95696; and John Klapac & Co., 5016 Shookstown Road, Frederick,
Md.  21702.

 Sean Adams USDA Agricultural Research Service [email-masked]

 Amitraz (Miticur) is no longer registered
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