Aethina tumida

TaxID: 116153

Basic Information

Aethina tumida

small hive beetle, Small hive beetle, Small Hive Beetle

Aethina tumida, commonly known as the small hive beetle (SHB), is a beekeeping pest. It is native to sub-Saharan Africa, but has spread to many other regions, including North America, Australia, and the Philippines. The small hive beetle primarily lives within the beehive and feeds on pollen, honey, and dead bees. The colonization can cause severe damage to honeycomb, stored honey, and pollen. Beetle larvae may tunnel through combs of honey, feeding and defecating, causing discoloration and fermentation of the honey. If a beetle infestation is abundant and concentrated, they may cause bees to abandon their hive. Small hive beetles have shown unique behavior associated with pheromones. They can sense the honeybee's alarm pheromone, which is primarily released by the host to inform the host guards about the presence of invaders. This fitness advantage improves their ability to quickly locate and colonize the honeybee hives. The host has evolved some strategies to cope with the colony damage, such as imprisonment of the invader, patrolling, and removal of beetle's eggs. Small hive beetles can cause significant economic loss on bee colony, stored honey, and package bee production. Biological control method includes uses of fungi and fire ants. Cultural control focuses on the hygienic practice of beekeeper. Chemical control strategy includes uses of carbon disulfide, para-dichlorobenzene, and some chemical products on the market.

from Wikipedia

Taxonomic Information

Metazoa

Arthropoda

Insecta

Coleoptera

Nitidulidae

Aethina

tumida

unclassified

Photos (0 photos)

No photos available.

Morphological Features

Larvae are creamy in color, 10–11 mm long and 1.6 mm wide, with two rows of dorsal spines on each thoracic and abdominal segment. Adults have antennae that are 0.8 times the head width, with the scape connecting to the head via an antennifer and the outer margin obtuse. The last three flagellomeres are swollen and gradually narrower, forming an uncompact antennal club. Antennae are placed in antennal grooves on the ventral surface during rest. The mouthparts include mandibles of similar length and width. Sensilla on the antennae include sensilla chaetica (long straight setae, 3.7±1.6 μm long, basal width 1.6±0.3 μm, on club), sensilla basiconica (long-rod shaped, 12.1±0.5 μm long, basal diameter 2.6±0.1 μm), and other types distributed on flagellomeres 7–9 and the club.

Source: GBIF Life Stage: Adult/Larva Source Type: Taxonomic treatment
Citation:

Plazi taxonomic treatment

Host Plants (0 host plants)

Data sources: EPPO Global Database and relevant literature.

No host plants available.

Quarantine Status (2 records)

Data sources: IPPC website and national quarantine websites; verified by human review.

Country Status Year Added
Antigua and Barbuda Quarantine pests —
United States of America Quarantine pests —

Distribution (30 countries)

Data Sources: EPPO Global Database and GBIF.

30
Present
0
Absent
0
Unknown/Other
Country Status State
Australia Present —
Austria Present —
Benin Present —
Burkina Faso Present —
Brazil Present —
Central African Republic Present —
Canada Present —
Cameroon Present —
Democratic Republic of the Congo Present —
Colombia Present —
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Distribution Map (Latitude and longitude coordinates sourced from GBIF.)

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Genomes (2 records)

Data source: NCBI.

Assembly Accession Assembly Level Genome Size(Mb) Contig N50(Kb) Scaffold N50(Kb) BUSCO% Downloads Actions
GCF_024364675.1 Chromosome - - - - -
GCF_001937115.1 Contig 234 298 298 98.92%

Transcriptomes (3 records)

Data source: NCBI.

Run ID Tissue Developmental Stage Sex Read Count Location Actions
SRR29098219 Whole insect (170mg) Adult - 126110195 South Africa: Stellenbosch
SRR29128607 Whole insect (400mg) Adult - 60681428 USA: Florida
SRR29128605 Whole insect (200mg) Adult - 48040422 USA: Ohio

DNA Barcodes (0 records)

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Data source: BOLD.

No DNA barcode records available.

Literature