Interactions of bumblebees, mites and viruses

The negative effects of Varroa mites on honey bees are well known. However, many wild bees, especially bumblebees, also frequently carry mites. These mites can theoretically also serve as vectors of bee diseases. This is particularly important if the individual mite species are not specialised in one bumblebee species, as they could then also transmit pathogens between species. Our results so far show that the mites are not specialised to individual bumblebee species and that they carry honeybee viruses. Therefore, it is important to further investigate the potential for transmission of the viruses between bumblebee species to understand the potential threat they pose to our bumblebee fauna.

                                                                                    Bombus sylvarum mit Milbe, Photo: UHH/CeNak, Husemann