Varroa-Sensitive Hygiene (VSH) as a Potential Contributor to the Natural Survival of Ethiopian Honey Bees (Apis mellifera simensis) Against Varroa destructor Mite.

Authors

Alemu Tsegaye, Tessema Aynalem, Mengistie Taye, Workneh Ayalew, Abebe Jenberie, Mary Chege, Tadelle Tefera, Beatrice Nganso

Published in

Ecology and evolution. Volume 16. Issue 10. Pages e74461. Epub Oct 16, 2026.

Abstract

Although the Varroa destructor mite is the primary threat to honey bee (Apis mellifera), populations of A. m. simensis in Ethiopia naturally survive mite infestations without treatment. While general hygienic and grooming behaviors have been previously reported to contribute to the natural survival of this subspecies against Varroa mites, the role of Varroa-sensitive hygiene (VSH) remains unknown. Here, we experimentally evaluated four VSH responses in worker brood cells of this subspecies artificially infested with a single mite (treatment) or opened and resealed without introducing a mite (control) across varying infested patch sizes (five, eight, and ten neighboring cells): untouched cells (UC), cell cap opened or partially opened (CO), brood and introduced mite removed (BMR), and introduced mite removed, brood retained, and cell recapped (MR). Our results revealed that VSH responses differed significantly between treatment categories and were significantly dependent on infested patch size. At five-cell patch size, VSH responses did not differ between treatment categories, whereas eight- and ten-cell patch sizes significantly increased the odds of BMR, MR and/or CO relative to UC by between five- and twenty-nine-fold. Model-predicted probabilities showed that the removal response (BMR + MR) accounted for 64.9% and 83.7% in infested patches at eight and ten cells, respectively, compared with 21.5% and 23.1% in controls. The uncapping response (CO + BMR + MR) reached 71.2% and 89.8% in eight and ten cells compared with 33.1% and 30.2% in controls, respectively. Overall, these findings suggest VSH as an additional behavioral mechanism of Ethiopian honey bees against V. destructor.

PMID:
42891142
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 18 Oct 2026.

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