Bee parasites

[SpikeyBush]

A hobby of mine is taking close up photos of wildflowers, insects and the like. When examining this particular shot I noticed what looks like a tick just under where this bee's wing is attached to its body. Is this the parasite the experts have been doom-mongering about, killing off all the bees?

https://picasaweb.goo...E#5607453425762355298

[Clanad]

Great photo! We keep bees here in the western U.S. and your catch appears to be the Varroa destructor mite. Once diagnosed it's rather easy to control and eliminate. However, it's been around since the mid-1990's when it came to the U.S. (Europe and the U.K. previously) from the Asian honeybee. It's but one of about 4 mites that infect hives.
It is certainly, in my opinion, one of the contributors to the Colony Collapse Disorder (or syndrome). There are others, but many of us have suspected the limited DNA variation that has developed over the last century to be ne of the major causes.. Once was, bees came from many different sources but now, 90% of the queens (worldwide) are sisters and like turkey breeders experienced earlier, the resistance to diseases and mite infestations has been greatly reduced...
Thanks for the picture...

[B00]

Can't help with the question, but wow, agree with clanad, fantastic photo!

[netibiza]

B00 gosh now you are back, you are everywhere ;0)

[B00]

lol, sorry xx

[netibiza]

Sorry?? B00 is sorry? nay never, don't ever change.....

[ladybirder]

Just recently my daughter and I found a bumblebee on the floor in the middle of the pavement. It was obviously in distress but we fetched it a spoonful of honey and it slowly moved onto the spoon and we put it in the flowerbed. On closer inspection we could see it was covered in tiny mites. A quick Google search told me to spray/wash the mites off with warm water but by the time we went out again to do this it was dead. That looks like a tick to me in the picture, and is not like the mites that were crawling all over our bumblebee. Fantastic picture though I expect it's doomed with that hanging off it?

[barb1314]

Amazing photo.I love photographing things close up but they're never that good.

[SpikeyBush]

Thanks everyone who likes the photo. I was rather pleased with it myself. Taken on a cheap camera I got in Lidl last year.

They don't all turn out that good, takes a lot of patience, wasted shots and spending a lot of time up to your armpits in mud and stinging nettles. But hey, it gets me out of the house and into the woods and once or twice you get a result like this. Makes it all worth it.