Longevity of Africanized Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Infested by Varroa jacobsoni (Parasitiformes: Varroidae)

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Abstract
The longevity of normal and varroa-infested Africanized honey bees, Apis mellifera L., was compared. The degree of infestation was determined by counting the adult and deutonymphal female mites present in the brood cell when the adult bee emerged. Uninfested control bees lived an average of 27.6 days; infested bees lived only 13.6. Bees infested with two or more mites lived 8.9 days. The number of mites per bee was significantly negatively correlated with both longevity and weight at emergence. There was no significant correlation between weight at emergence and longevity for infested or uninfested bees. Reduction in longevity appears not to be merely a secondary result of reduced adult weight.

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