Posted on 01/05/2012 10:00:37 AM PST by BlueDragon
A heap of dead bees was supposed to become food for a newly captured praying mantis. Instead, the pile ended up revealing a previously unrecognized suspect in colony collapse disorder—a mysterious condition that for several years has been causing declines in U.S. honeybee populations, which are needed to pollinate many important crops. This new potential culprit is a bizarre—and potentially devastating—parasitic fly that has been taking over the bodies of honeybees (Apis mellifera) in Northern California.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.scientificamerican.com ...
Another link, perhaps the main source A New Threat to Honey Bees, the Parasitic Phorid Fly Apocephalus borealis
Thanks for posting this piece. The word on actual causes of the hive collapses need to be heard.
I remember a study in South TX where these flies or similar were brought in from South America to kill fire ants.
The bee, he is a busy soul
He has no time for birth control
And that is why, in times like these
There are so many SOBs
Zom-bees!
It’s been more than 50 years since I cared for a bee hive, so I’m not up on everything, but I have been following the colony collapse syndrome problem. This discovery is significant. I hope it leads to a solution.
the link at the bottom of my comment is to a PLoS ONE item.
Oh what a glorious thing to be,
A healthy grown up busy busy bee,
Arthur Askey’s “Bee Song”
(This will make you crazy.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx3epp1nTNs
Whiling away
The passing hours
Pinching all the pollen
From the cauliflow’rs.
I’d like to be a busy little bee,
Being just as busy as a bee can be,
Flying round the garden
Brightest ever seen,
Taking back the honey
To the dear old queen.
Bzz bzz bzz bzz, honey bee, honey bee,
Bzz if you like but don’t sting me.
Bzz bzz bzz bzz, honey bee, honey bee,
Bzz if you like but don’t sting me!
CCD itself is hard to pin down, not only as what causes it, but what is properly diagnosed as CCD in the first place.
There have been large, widespread bee die-offs n this country periodically for more than a century.
Not being expert on this last one, nor on this most recent report, I do notice that on one map the fly seems to be found in California, but other information suggests it's common nationwide? I'm not up to speed yet -- will never be completely, I'm sure.
“Now I thought the science was settled on this and it was/is (drum roll and spooky music) global warming is killing the bees.”
Which is ironic because 3 of my dad’s hives froze to death last year.
Guess they didn’t get the memo.
We have plenty of bees here in Florida. So many that they have to open the walls of homes to get them out. Maybe they all moved here.
Thousands of bees invade South Florida home
01/04/2012
http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/state/thousands-of-bees-invade-south-florida-home
You may be interested in this:
http://www.columbian.com/news/2011/dec/28/superbees-creation-has-industry-abuzz/
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On a farm on the outskirts of Frederick, Md., Kelly Rausch and Adam Finkelstein crack open a wooden beehive whose design dates to the 19th century. Inside, they point out a superbee they have made for the 21st century.
In two months, the carefully bred queen bee has built a large, productive colony that knows how to cluster against the cold and fill the winter larder with honey.
More important, her bees have sought out and destroyed a sneaky parasitic mite that feeds on their baby sisters. “The bees are definitely taking care of everything,” Finkelstein said from behind his veil.
The desire for a bee that will look after itself might seem pretty basic. But with as many as one-third of honeybee colonies routinely dying off each year and the rest requiring extraordinary care, the quest for a better bee has become critical.
Scientists are trying to find the cause of colony collapse disorder, the 5-year-old phenomenon of worker bees suddenly disappearing. Other maladies abound and could be a factor in the disorder: new pests and diseases, the effects of pesticides and the strain of industrial-scale pollination.
Farmers rely on the insect not just for honey but also to pollinate much of our food.
Rausch and Finkelstein run a business called VP Queen Bees, which supplies breeder queens to producers for as much as $165 a queen, from their five bee yards in Frederick County, 50 miles northwest of here. The producers, in turn, propagate daughter queens by the thousands and sell them to commercial beekeepers and backyard hobbyists for about $30 each.
The object: a queen that will pass on to her colony the traits of disease and pest resistance, gentleness, productivity and winter hardiness.
I remember reading about parasites being a cause of Colony Collapse years ago, but it was in a more fringe publication, mainstream just kept touting its something we are doing, pesticides, etc... whenever I saw a report about it in the mainstream press.
Amazing how the truth is ignored..
It seems that the foraging worker bees are coming into contact with Apocephalus borealis on a recurrent basis. It would seem that the intersecting habitat for Apocephalus borealis and the location for the forgaing should be the focus.
The Chemtrail kooks aren't gonna be happy about this!
If you’re right about California, Napa/Sonoma Valley better be ready.
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