The African small hive beetle has left a slimy, foul-smelling trail from the beehives of Florida to, most recently, those of Minnesota.
Whether that trail will extend into Canada remains to be seen, says John Gruszka of Prince Albert, Sask.. He is Saskatchewan Agriculture’s provincial apiculturist.
“It’s just a waiting game,” he said. “Our one comfort is that the Canada-United States border has remained closed to imports of bees. It was a prudent decision to close the border in 1987, and this is just one more justification to keep it closed.”
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Gruszka said the African small hive beetle probably arrived in Florida from South Africa in a load of fruit that rotted and was dumped. The larvae feed on fruit and the contents of beehives before burrowing in the soil where they pupate into adult beetles that climb back into the hive to lay eggs and begin the cycle again.
“Its spread in the U.S. has been due to hives being moved for pollination purposes, or replacement packages of bees being shipped from Florida, where 50,000 colonies have been killed by the beetle already. It has no known predators,” said Gruszka.
He said the African small hive beetle is worse than the varroa mite for several reasons. When the colony dies due to the mite, for example, the mite dies too and the equipment can be used again.
“But, within months, the beetle larvae not only overwhelm the bees, which abandon the hive, they eat everything – pollen, honey and wax – and leave a putrid, rotting slime that makes the equipment unusable.
“Although we don’t know if the African small hive beetle can survive the Saskatchewan winter, it is a serious threat. But it’s not likely to walk across the border, so we hope our import restrictions work,” said Gruszka.
