Australia has been the largest honeybee producing country to be free of Varroa mites (Varroa destructor and V. jacobsoni). However, biosecurity officers found V. destructor at Newcastle Port on 22 June 2022. Our scientist Dr John Roberts comments on the problem with this invasive pest.
What is Varroa mite?
Varroa mites are deadly parasitic pests that feed on developing and adult European honey bees (Apis mellifera). They are the greatest biological threat to Australia’s honey bee and pollination-dependent plant industries. The mite has a reddish-brown body that is less than two mm wide and visible to the naked eye.
Left untreated, Varroa mites will eventually kill any bee colony it infests. Between 90 and 100 per cent of feral colonies are expected to be lost.
Where does Varroa mite come from originally?
Varroa mites are originally parasites of Asian honey bees (A. cerana). However, some have adapted to be a pest of European honey bees. Varroa mites now inhabit most parts of the world.
Has Australia detected Varroa mite before?
This is the first incursion of V. destructor in Australia. Authorities are responding quickly to try to contain and eradicate the mite. In 2018, there was an interception of V. destructor in a honey bee swarm on a ship in the Port of Melbourne. Authorities had to eradicate the swarm.
How did Varroa mite reach Australia?
At this stage it is unknown how and when Varroa arrived in Australia. Although it is possible that an infected honey bee swarm has entered the Port of Newcastle on a shipping vessel.
What do we know about this new incursion in Australia?
Australia has a network of sentinel bee hives at several Australian ports. These hives are like security guards and provide an early warning system for biosecurity threats to honey bees. The incursion of Varroa mite was discovered on 22 June in two of these sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle. Biosecurity officers inspect sentinel hives every six weeks for exotic mites and other pests.
Is Varroa likely to spread?
This biosecurity response is specifically aimed at stopping the spread of Varroa mites and eradicating this incursion. An emergency order is in place in NSW that prohibits the movement of bees and bee hives. On the other hand, feral bee colonies are a challenge to the response as they can help spread Varroa mites. The NSW Department of Primary Industries have been updating the amount of affected hives at their website.
How does Varroa mite spread?
Varroa mite is spread by bees and hives that have come into contact with the pest. Bees can spread Varroa mites if they ‘drift’ into other hives and even between honey farms (apiaries). If a bee colony dies, other bees coming to steal the honey from that colony can spread Varroa mites back to their hives. It is even possible for Varroa mites to spread to bees when they are visiting flowers.
How does the Varroa mite affect bees?
The Varroa mite attaches to the bee and feeds on their ‘fat body’. This is a part of the bee that plays a role in energy production, growth and immunity. The feeding mite weakens the bee, as do the deadly bee viruses that Varroa mites can carry. Deformed Wing virus (DWV) is the most serious of these viruses. The combination of the Varroa mite and DWV is a leading cause of bee colony deaths in other countries.
Has Australia detected the virus?
Our previous research has shown Australian bees do not have DWV. Whether the current Varroa mite incursion has introduced this virus or other pathogens is still under investigation. If DWV is not found, this will reduce the damage of the mite on bee colonies.
If Varroa mite gets into a hive, is there anything bee keepers can do?
At this point in the current eradication response, bee keepers must euthanise all infested hives to give us the best chance of getting rid of the mite.
How can beekeepers protect their hives from Varroa mite?
If Varroa mites do establish in Australia, there are a number of management strategies used overseas to reduce mite populations in hives. Mite-targeting pesticides and organic acids are the main form of management, particularly for commercial beekeepers. There are also ongoing breeding programs around the world developing Varroa resistant bees.
What does the arrival of the Varroa mite mean for our bee and agricultural industries?
While not native to Australia, European honey bees have an essential role in providing pollination for Australia’s agricultural sector. If Varroa mite establishes, it will increase management costs for beekeepers. This will make it harder to provide enough healthy hives to meet the growing demand for pollination.
How have we managed to keep Varroa out of Australia for so long?
Australia’s isolation has been important for keeping Varroa mites out. However, we also have an excellent biosecurity system with robust preparedness plans for biosecurity threats, like the Varroa mite. State and federal governments have prepared and modelled numerous scenarios should Varroa arrive in Australia. These plans are currently being implemented.
Does Varroa mite affect native bees?
The Varroa mites in this incursion are host-specific to European honey bees. Native bees cannot be hosts of Varroa mites, but viruses spread by the mite can spill over into native bees.
Tips for bee keepers
- If you are a registered beekeeper in NSW, keep your contact details up to date. If you are unregistered, register at the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) website
- If you keep bees, find out if you are in a zone of concern
- Follow advice from NSW DPI
- The situation is changing all the time, NSW DPI is updating information regularly. Visit NSW DPI
- NSW DPI regularly update their Facebook page with current information.
- If you find Varroa mite in a hive notify NSW DPI:
- Complete the Report a Biosecurity Concern form
- Call the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline, 1800 084 881 (9am to 5pm, seven days a week)
- Email hive.location@emergency.dpi.nsw.gov.au
9 comments
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5th July 2022 at 3:06 pm
Thanks for the offer Rod! Long term monitoring is always challenging but extremely valuable.
5th July 2022 at 1:13 pm
Hopefully this is a wake up call to change our agricultural practices. No one wants to see the European Honeybee population decimated by the Varroa mite or associated viruses but this infestation is a wake up call to start expanding our native insect populations and the biodiverse habitats that they rely upon. Altering our horticultural & agricultural practices away from “simple” monoculture to more integrated multi-cultured plantings that include various different crops and native flora would assist beneficial insect populations and multi vector pollination and not being so reliant on one vulnerable introduced species. Best wishes to all the bee keepers out there and good work CSIRO.
31st July 2022 at 1:05 pm
It is certainly a wake up call to change beekeeping practices. Having a commercial beekeeping system that involves trucking bees across the county is a recipe for pest and disease proliferation. This plays into the agriculture issue of monoculture, as farmers are not providing forage all year round for bees, and can’t due to chemical spraying of pests and weeds. We should not be shipping bees from Queensland to pollinate Victorian almonds.
I do not agree with the prediction in this article that the feral colonies will bear the brunt of this mite. They will become the best adapted. Look at Apis Cerana is Asia, living with the Varroa mite. Instead, it is the artificial environment of the commercial beekeeper, with its enlarged cell sizes in preshaped wax foundation, and propped up by antibiotics and pesticides, that will suffer the greatest losses.
The only way forward is for bees to adapt by breeding with queens from ‘survivor stock’ – which will be the feral colonies. But I doubt we will see this. What we will see is a genetically modified, lab engineered bee. What could possibly go wrong…
5th July 2022 at 8:07 am
Hi John, do you know if the Purple Hive Team is involved with the Sentinel Hive Program?
One would think it would make sense to monitor the Sentinel hives in real time rather than 6 weekly.
https://createdigital.org.au/purple-hive-uses-artificial-intelligence-to-keep-bees-parasite-free/
5th July 2022 at 3:02 pm
The Purple Hive project is a great initiative but still in development and not currently in use for surveillance.
21st July 2022 at 12:53 pm
If your hive gets Varroa or other diseases like American foulbrood you need to destroy your bees and burn the hive. Under the current emergency provision the government provides $400 compensation per hive (I think that’s correct). Not a lot of money, but lots to loose if you use fancy hives!
4th July 2022 at 7:25 pm
… so what’s the plan in other states?
5th July 2022 at 3:04 pm
We already have hive movement restrictions between some states, e.g. WA and east coast, which will be important should this incursion continue to spread.
4th July 2022 at 6:24 pm
Quarantine is a huge challenge. Invasive pests only need to win once to get established, whereas quarantine has to win all the time. Not a whole lot different to prevention of terrorist attacks.
Hope the established protocols work this time round, and also that no viruses spill over into our native bee populations. I don’t know if it’s related to climate change or some other underlying cause but we are seeing far fewer insects of all types her in SE Qld these days: Xmas beetles, longicorns, native bees of all the ‘common’ species, butterflies, moths, stick insects, mantids, even flies. The light over the evening bbq on the veranda used to be surrounded by insects of too many species to count… these days I’m excited to see any. If CSIRO would like to set up long term monitoring here then I’ll happily do the grunt work because this decline is not right.