Previously introduced to you one of the main culprits of maggots in bees: The Szan bee cocoon bee, today to introduce another type of culprit - parasitic flies. At present, the flies found to parasitize bees are mainly bee flies and flea flies, of which bee flies are common in China, and flea flies are only reported in the United States, so the next main introduction is the bee flies.
1. Bee hemp fly
1. Basic information
Bee fly, also known as broad-fronted flies, meat flies, unlike the Spitzen bee cocoon bee is to lay eggs in the bee, it is in the bee abdominal node and the joint of the junction to lay eggs, hatched larvae and then use their sharp palate to pierce the bee abdominal internodeum, and then drill into the bee, to the bee abdominal organs, chest muscles for food. After the bees have eaten up their internal organs and muscles, leaving only a chitin shell, they will drill out of the cephalothorax junction or other parts and dive into the soil to pupate.
Bee hemp fly in China's Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Hubei and parts of Heilongjiang have been found, like in the swampy area, coastal areas of the lake, overgrown low-lying areas to live, mostly in the summer out of harm bee colonies, the main parasitic object is young and middle-aged worker bees, when they go out to collect opportunities to keep up, and lay larvae. Parasitic bees die in 2 to 9 days, most in 4 to 5 days.
2. Parasitic symptoms
When the bee is parasitized, it only appears to fly slowly in the early stages, and as the parasitic time increases, it will completely lose its ability to fly, and can only crawl on the ground in front of the hive, and finally the body will spasm, tremble, lie on its back and die.
If we find these symptoms, we can judge that the bee is sick, and then cut open the abdomen and chest of the diseased bee, and if maggots are found, we can confirm that the sick bee is parasitic.
3. Prevention and control methods
For the control of bee hemp flies: It is understood that pregnant female bee flies have the characteristics of preferring to roost on blue, white, gray and shiny beehive lids, and they cannot distinguish the water surface, so they can put a white porcelain plate filled with water on the hive, which can induce bee flies to fly into it and drown.
For the treatment of parasitic bees: all the bees in the box can be shaken down outside the box, can quickly restore the state and fly back, crawl back to the box is a healthy bee, slow action, can only crawl on the ground is the parasitic bees, should be burned centrally, to prevent the larvae in the bee body from growing pupae, continue to expand the harm.
2. Flea flies
Flea flies, also known as hunchback flies, coffin flies. Adult flies mostly feed on nectar and plant sap, while larvae are saprophytic, often parasitic or symbiotic in ant and termite nests.
In 2012, the United States discovered "zombie bees" that would fly away from their hives at night, stumbling, directionless, cramping, and like to gather under the lights until they fell to the ground after death. After follow-up observation, it was confirmed that flea flies laid eggs on the bee's abdomen, and as the eggs hatched and the larvae grew, they would invade the bee's head, making the bees unconscious, and then "zombie" behavior occurred.
At present, this parasitic phenomenon is only found in the United States, and china also has the harm of flea flies, but it is not parasitic in the bee body, and even does not produce offspring in the bee colony, but invades the bee colony, swallows larvae and slurry in the nest room, and disrupts the normal life of the bee colony.
China's control of flea flies is mainly to sprinkle ant-killing drugs in the middle beehive, inducing flea flies to be poisoned outside the box, and it will not further endanger the bee colony.
Article source: Dr. Bee APP