Abstract

Decreased flight performance and sperm production in drones of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) slightly infested by Varroa destructor mites during pupal development

We developed a bioassay to measure the flying power of drone, in order to determine which drones could reach a drone congregation area. A wind tunnel was used to test unparasitized drones and drones slightly parasitized by one or two mites during pupal development, and counts were made of the number of spermatozoa that they produced. Drones parasitized with one mite flew as long as control drones ( = 6’55” and 6’48”, respectively, P = 0.512); however, those that had been infested by two mites flew significantly less ( = 2’16”, P

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