Fungi might be used to kill verroa mites

COVENTRY, England, July 30 (UPI) -- British scientists say they are testing naturally occurring fungi as a possible way of eliminating the varroa mite that's threatening the world's honey bees.

University of Warwick researchers said varroa mites feed on the circulatory fluid of honey bee pupae and adult bees, and by so doing they activate and transmit diseases that cause bee colonies to decline, the scientists said.

Although current management of varroa is based on the use of chemical pesticides, the mites are developing resistance. University of Warwick scientists say they've found some new natural enemies of varroa from other hosts.

"We examined 50 different types of fungi that afflict other insects to see if they would kill varroa," said researcher Dave Chandler. "We needed to find fungi that were effective killers of varroa, had a low impact on the bees and worked in the warm and dry conditions typically found in bee hives. Of the original 50 fungi we are now focusing on four that best match those three requirements."

The research is to be presented next week at the university during an international conference of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology.