Why do Varroa mites prefer nurse bees?
Why do Varroa mites prefer nurse bees?
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为什么瓦螨更喜欢护士蜂？
DOI：
10.1038/srep28228
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发表时间：
2016-06-15
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Zeng Z
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Xie X;Huang ZY;Zeng Z
狄斯瓦螨（Varroa destructor）是寄生于意大利蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）的一种螨类外寄生虫。它是意大利蜜蜂最严重的害虫，但其在寄主上的生殖生物学还不清楚。特别是，当螨虫以成年蜜蜂为食几天时，泳动阶段的意义尚不清楚。此外，尚不清楚在实验室中观察到的螨类对护士的偏好是否也发生在真实的菌落内部。我们表明，瓦螨喜欢护士在新出现的蜜蜂和伪造者在殖民地设置。然后，我们确定了这种偏好背后的机制。我们表明，这种偏好最大限度地提高瓦螨健身，虽然由于事实上，每个螨必须找到第二个主机（蛹）繁殖，健身的好处螨不是立即，但延迟。我们的研究结果表明，瓦螨是一种高度适应蜜蜂寄生虫。
The Varroa mite, Varroa destructor, is an acarine ecto-parasite on Apis mellifera. It is the worst pest of Apis mellifera, yet its reproductive biology on the host is not well understood. In particular, the significance of the phoretic stage, when mites feed on adult bees for a few days, is not clear. In addition, it is not clear whether the preference of mites for nurses observed in the laboratory also happens inside real colonies. We show that Varroa mites prefer nurses over both newly emerged bees and forgers in a colony setting. We then determined the mechanism behind this preference. We show that this preference maximizes Varroa fitness, although due to the fact that each mite must find a second host (a pupa) to reproduce, the fitness benefit to the mites is not immediate but delayed. Our results suggest that the Varroa mite is a highly adapted parasite for honey bees.