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In 2024, Tropilaelaps was confirmed for the first time in Europe, infesting honey bee colonies in southwest Russia and Georgia. These reports mark a continued movement towards the west from origins in Asia. Migratory beekeeping and bee stocks sales are likely pathways for the rapid movement of this dangerous mite. Test your bees for Tropilaelaps.

Monitor your colonies for Tropilaelaps mites. Tropilaelaps mites are statutory notifiable pests in many different countries, and so you must inform your local authorities immediately if you have any suspicions that the mite is present. Mite samples and photographs can be useful evidence to share with the authorities. Beekeepers can reduce mite spread by considering importing or migrating bee stocks from regions with a low risk of mite presence.

How to detect the Tropilaelaps mite easy:

Have a closer look at this nice video. Please share with your colleagues all over europe.

Download our leaflet with the latest update on Tropilaelaps: https://beeguards.eu/?sdm_process_download=1&download_id=994

Pim Brascamp, Aleksandar Uzunov, Piter Bijma and Manuel Du composed “The Genetics of Selection in Honeybees”, a new cost-free eBook published by Wageningen University. The book aims to help breeders and bee experts understand subtle elements of honey bee selection, which previously needed to be addressed. The current version is 44 pages of condensed material in four chapters: Breeding Goal, Quantitative Genetics, Breeding Value Estimation, and Selection. It is available in chapter or whole pdf book mode.

Download here. Or have a look for more downloads on our downloadpage.

Authors consider this material as work in progress and appreciate and welcome comments and suggestions for improvement.

The BeeGuards members: Aleksandar Uzunov, Cecilia Costa and Giovanni Cilia are an important part of the author team on this breaking new article. You need to read.

First to confirm findings of the harmful Tropilaelaps mercedesae mite in Western Georgia (Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region). Infested honey bee colonies (of the Caucasian honey bee, Apis mellifera caucasica) across three beekeeping sites showed high levels of infestation. Tropilaelaps are spreading and create increasing concern for beekeepers. In these colonies, T. mercedesae was found alongside another harmful mite, Varroa destructor, both showing high reproductive success. This discovery raises alarms for beekeeping in Georgia and Europe, and immediate steps are needed to monitor and control its spread to protect bees and agriculture.

Download on: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385048575_First_Report_on_Tropilaelaps_mercedesae_Presence_in_Georgia_The_Mite_is_Heading_Westward

In this video (https://tropilaelaps.info/media/video-gallery/) you can follow the instructions on how to apply the new method under field or lab conditions. The video is based on the experience and results available in the preprint article:

Uzunov, Janashia, Chen, Costa, Kovacic A scientific note on “Rapid brood decapping” – a method for assessment of honey bee (Apis mellifera) brood infestation with Tropilaelaps mercedesae.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.09.616962v1.article-metrics

Still from the EURBEE10 conference in Tallin. Download the poster

BeeGuards poster on Migratory habits of Slovenian beekeepers

EURBEE-10. BeeGuards poster on: Migratory habits of Slovenian beekeepers and their economic
efficiency

Download Now!112 Downloads

Strong contribution from WP2 Breeding experts at the International Apicultural Asia Regional Symposium in Beijing. Chao Chen and Alex Uzunov organized a satellite breeding conference with contributions from Australia, North America, Asia and Europe. Cecilia Costa, Jesus Yaniz and Marin Kovacic presented different aspects and perspectives on honey bee breeding, alongside other experts from Australia, Canada, China, Germany.

The 2024 International Apicultural Asia Regional Symposium is set to convene at the Miyun Youth Palace and Rui Haimu Resort in Beijing, China from 2rd- 4th September, 2024, drawing honey enthusiasts, beekeepers, researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders from across Asia and beyond. This symposium is envisioned as a pivotal event poised to elevate the apicultural industry to new heights, fostering a sustainable and dynamic economy centered around beekeeping activities.

Read the poster of Melanie Parejo, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) et al. Presented on Applied Hologenetic Conference 2024 in Copenhagen. Focus was on BEEGUARDS WP4: Study of the honeybee holobiont to unravel management and environment-driven changes in colony resilience. Simply understand what we do in our project. Read more about the conference on: www.appliedhologenomicsconference.eu

You can download the poster on our download page.

What is a Multiactor Forum (MAF)? Good question! Listen to Raffaele explaining how you can bee involved, even become asked about your option! How you can influence such a big project. Our MAF group is with around 250 stakeholders. Feel free to join, sign up on this mail: maf@beeguards.eu

Listen to our podcast: https://beeguards.podbean.com

Queen caging is a crucial part of the BeeGuards project. Here are some nice articles already done by several team members of BeeGuards.
Climate changes results in shorter and shorter winters and brood breaks seems to disappear more or less in many countries. This means varroa and virus not in control! Many inventions have been developed to create brood breaks. Queen caging has become popular. But read and see her. The RINGING of a queen.
Have look on these nice publications on comparing caging and ringing. All done by BeeGuards members.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0005772X.2023.2263285
Read more about ringing in this publication!
Queen Ringing – An Alternative Method for Inducing Brood Interruption. https://doi.org/10.1080/0005772X.2023.2263285
and enjoy this how to video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBAxwKE8NQo