Morphological variation of Varroa mites in apiaries of different geographic regions of Iran

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tehran, Karaj. Iran

2 Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran

3 Department of Biotechnology، Animal Science Research Institute of IRAN (ASRI)

Abstract

Varroa mite as one of the most important causes of honey bee colony losses has been the subject of numerous studies during the last 4 decades in Iran. Considering the importance of morphological traits in the adoption of control methods, this research was designed to investigate the morphological variation of Varroa mite in different geographical regions of Iran. So, a total of 675 adult female mites were collected from 45 apiaries in 5 different geographical locations. The collected samples were fixed in 96% ethanol and 143 adult Varroa mites were selected and mounted on permanent slides in Hoyer medium for measurement of 14 morphological traits. Statistical analysis of data was done using multivariate analysis of variance, principal components analysis, cluster analysis and Tukey's test. The results showed that the average of LDS and WDS were 1828.36 ± 52.28 and 1226.84 ± 28.86 µm, respectively. The average ratio of body size was 1.49, which shows that the studied populations belong to Varva destructor. Cluster analysis showed that all populations except Alborz belong to one morphotypic group. The results of principal components analysis showed that the 14 studied traits were summarized into 3 components which can justify 71.42% of total variance. The results of multivariate analysis of variance showed that only LDS and LAS were significant between the two morphotypes (P<0.001). As well as, the traits of LDS, WGS, LAS and WAS had significant difference between different geographical regions (P<0.001).

Keywords

Main Subjects

Extended Abstract

Introduction

     honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) plays an important role in the global economy through highly valued pollination services for natural ecosystems and a wide variety of agricultural crops. The prerequisite for the high efficiency of pollination and other bee services in natural ecosystems is the existence of healthy populations. But the presence of a wide range of pathogens and parasites such as pathogen agents, cultivation systems, pesticide residues, or climate change has resulted in the mortality of managed A. mellifera colonies in some regions during the last decades. among the pathogen agents, there is a consensus about the impact of Varroa destructor on the loss of honey bees due to its role as a vector of other pathogens, mostly virus. So, the aim of the present work was to study Morphological variation of Varroa destructor (Acari: Varroidae) in different geographic locations of Iran

 

Materials and Methods

     A total of 675 adult female mites in the dispersal phase were collected from 225 different Apis mellifera colonies in 45 apiaries in different geographical locations of Iran. The collected samples were fixed in 96% ethanol and 143 adult Varroa mites were selected and mounted on permanent slides in Hoyer medium for morphometric measurements. morphological traits including Length of Dorsal Shield(LDS), Width of Dorsal Shield(WDS), Length of Anal Shield(LAS), Width of Anal Shield(WAS), Length of Metapodal Sheild(LMS), Width of Metapodal Sheild(WMS), length of genital shield(LGS), width of genital shield (WGS) and Length of chelicera(LC) were measured using light microscope. We also calculated 4 ratios of the measured traits. Statistical analysis of data was done using multivariate analysis of variance, principal components analysis, cluster analysis and Tukey's test. SPSS v25.0 was employed for statistical analysis.

 

Results

    The results showed that the average of LDS and WDS in the studied populations were 1828.36 ± 52.28 and 1226.84 ± 28.86 µm, respectively. These averages are higher than previous studies in Iran and other countries. The average ratio of body size was 1.49, which shows that the results are consistent with the results of Anderson and Truman 2000, and all the studied populations belong to Varva destructor. The results of the cluster analysis showed that all populations except Alborz belong to one group, which indicates the mixing of populations and is consistent with the nomadic nature of Iran's beekeeping industry. The results of the discrimination analysis also showed that the fitted discrimination function was significant (P<0.001) and separated the populations from each other in 96% of cases correctly. The results of principal components analysis showed that the 14 studied traits were summarized into 3 components which can justify 71.42% of total variance. The results of multivariate analysis of variance showed that only LDS and LAS were significant between the two morphotypes (P<0.001). As well as, the traits of LDS, WGS, LAS and WAS had significant differences and between different geographical regions (P<0.001).

 

Discussion and Conclusion

    The morphotypes observed in this study can be the output of the evolutionary response of the parasite to the climatic variables such as altitude, temperature, humidity in each region and the management status of colonies (selection pressure caused by acaricides, host strain and body reserves and its biology). In fact, If the mentioned conditions continue, they can lead to phenotypic plasticity and changes in the genetic structure of the parasite population. As a result, nature of Iran's beekeeping industry and the young parasite-host symbiosis in Iran (about 4 decades since the first infection of Iranian honey bee colonies) can be considered as the reason for the presence of limited mite morphotypes in Iran. The present study confirmed that, based on the morphological measurements, Varroa destructor infects honey bee colonies in Iran. A list of some morphological characteristics of this parasite was presented for further comparison in future. considering that the morphometric map can be considered as an effective method for measuring the correlation between morphology and geographical locations, it is suggested that the morphometric map for all regions of Iran should be specified in future studies. As well as, considering the correlations between the symbiotic populations of Varroa destructor and Apis mellifera and existence of different ecotypes of Apis mellifera in Iran, it is suggested to investigate this relationship in future studies. Also, considering the pattern of using of synthetic acaricides in Iran and multiple reports of low efficacy of these drugs in different regions, it is suggested to evaluate the resistance of varroa mite for commonly used drugs in future studies.

Author Contributions

Alireza Arab: Conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft preparation, writing—review and editing, visualization.

Seyed Reza Miraei-Ashtiani: Conceptualization, editing, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition.

Ardeshir Nejati Javaremi: Conceptualization, editing, supervision, project administration

Mohammad Hossein Banabazi: Conceptualization, editing, supervision, project administration

 

All authors contributed equally to the conceptualization of the article and writing of the original and subsequent drafts.

Data Availability Statement

In this section, please provide details regarding where data supporting reported results can be found, including links to publicly archived datasets analyzed or generated during the study (see examples). Data available on request from the authors.

If the study did not report any data, you might add “Not applicable” here.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all beekeepers who help us in the sampling process of this study. We also gratefully acknowledge to Dr. Alireza Saboori for scientific assistance in all stages of the research.

Ethical considerations

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of ABCD (Ethical code: IR.UT.RES.2024.500). The authors avoided data fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and misconduct.

Conflict of interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.

 

Conflict of interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.

References

منابع

رفاهی، محمد و علیپور، محمد جواد (1397). گیاهان ارزشمند در زنبورداری ایران. چاپ اول. ویراست اول. مشهد: مؤسسة انتشارات ضریح آفتاب.
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Iranian Journal of animal Science
Volume 56, Issue 2
June 2025
Pages 409-426

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History

  • Receive Date: 16 January 2024
  • Revise Date: 27 May 2024
  • Accept Date: 01 June 2024

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