Hello, I'm new here and have a question pertaining to bees.

Hello, I'm new here and have a question pertaining to bees.

none

(visit the link for the full news article)

I'm not a biologist but I do see a relation to the chemical spraying of crops and the death of bees. Not only that but GMO crops themselves from hybrid seeds seem to have an effect on the bugs as well. I live in upstate New York and have rarely seen bees until this past weekend. Side Note: Not only have I not seen bees but since the population of the bees has been dying off, my allergies have been going bonkers because of so much pollen. Let's get back to the story.

So, I was at my friends place this past weekend and his sister starts screaming. We run outside to see what the problem is and she starts saying, "The bee is dying, the bee is dying." We thought nothing of it because she's a PETA fanatic (People that Eat Tasty Animals) but I digress. She starts saying, "There's another bug crawling in it's mouth! EWWWWWW, get it out!"

We start to check what's in the bees mouth and it certainly did have another bug inching/cenimetering in it's mouth. It looks like its legs were sticking out of the bees mouth. It was pretty freaky but I thought, "That's nature." I checked to see what this bug was on the net but to no avail.

Does anyone have an idea of what this bug is? It had long brown legs, about four of them. I could not see the rest of the body seeing how it was in the bees mouth or abdomen at the time.


(visit the link for the full news article)

wrong section

But Bayer CropSciences

google them

Oops, sorry about that.

That could be a Varroa Mite. Bees are commonly infected with them. There
are also Tracheal Mites, but I believe they are microscopic. Google
Honeybee Varroa mite for a photo for comparison. It could also be just
a opportunistic insect who has found an easy meal.

i hadnt seen a honeybee in years up until yesterday, actually saw like 2 or 3 of them.


which is kind of odd...something tells me they arent making a comeback on their own.

monsanto is probably attempting to supplement the loss of the bee's they keep killing...it wouldnt surprise me.

I saw one dead honeybee alone in a parking lot in nw georgia saturday. The first honeybee I have seen in a couple years.

reply to post by Wildmanimal


I checked the pictures of the Varroa Mite. They had a comparison to a persons finger and was very very small. This thing was much bigger. The legs of this bug were about a quarter of an inch. The bee was still alive when the bug was crawling in it's mouth.

I am not sure what creature was in it's mouth. I am commenting because my other half and myself were just talking last week how we have not seen any honey bees this year. We also live in New York State - Catskill Mountains and by this time of year the honey bees usually are everywhere. Now that I see we are not the only ones noticing this, I will make some calls to our local honey bee farms and see if they can give me some insight.

This Article describes what they are calling Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder. Maybe it was not the creature killing the bee but it praying on an ill one.

[edit on 29-6-2010 by Anmarie96]

reply to post by Spike360


That bug you described does not sound like a standard parasite of bees trachea are in side and verge on being microscopic varroa mites are small but visible . By my screen set up a period of a sentence is just a little smaller than a varroa mite . ( . ) This sounds like a opportunistic bug attacking a bees.

Our hives we have trouble with small ants. They will attack and kill the bees and eat them if they get a chance so will praying mantis. Ants will hollow out the bee leaving only the hard out side empty shell . Bees will literally work them selves to death when they cant fly any more they crawl around and are prey to any carnivorous insect or creature out there .

I cant identify by the description hope this helps .

Originally posted by Lostinthedarkness
reply to post by Spike360

 

That bug you described does not sound like a standard parasite of bees trachea are in side and verge on being microscopic varroa mites are small but visible . By my screen set up a period of a sentence is just a little smaller than a varroa mite . ( . ) This sounds like a opportunistic bug attacking a bees.

Our hives we have trouble with small ants. They will attack and kill the bees and eat them if they get a chance so will praying mantis. Ants will hollow out the bee leaving only the hard out side empty shell . Bees will literally work them selves to death when they cant fly any more they crawl around and are prey to any carnivorous insect or creature out there .

I cant identify by the description hope this helps .

Ahhhhh. That sounds more plausible for what happened. Now that I think of it, the bug's legs did resemble that of an ant.

Thank you for your insight!

@ Anmarie96, thank you for that document, I'm going to read up on it later. Yes, since the population of the bee is in decline it will eventually cause a "butterfly" effect on the food chain. I know Einstein said the human population will not survive for more than 4 yrs (I believe) w/o bees. I know Einstein knew of the butterfly effect but to use bees as an example...he must have known something else.

[edit on 29-6-2010 by Spike360]

A few years back me and the better half heard about the colony collapse disorder . We had been working on a self sufficiency live style little by little we decided to become beekeepers 5 years later we have had some success and some failures . We thought since we live in a area with very little chemical usage and minimal GMO beekeeping would be easier and ecologically sound since there is so much of the disorder going around . Our few hives might help .

We average 5 gallons of honey a season from 4 hive . And are building up . I would suggest any one really interested in bees to try your hand at it .

It IS A GREAT HOBBY .Even if you live in the city we need more bee keepers to keep the bees and art alive .

Besides most of the colony collapse seems to be related to large pollination service companies , Most small bee keepers I know have had very little or none of the colony collapse disorder occurring at their bee yards .