Another Serious Bee Pest Found in Hilo, Hawai'i: Small Hive Beetle Damages Honey

摘要

HONOLULU - The HawaH Department of Agriculture (HDOA) has confirmed the presence of another serious bee pest, the Small Hive Beetle (SHB), in hives located near Hilo. The discovery of this new pest, in addition to the already established varroa mite,imperils the queen bee export and honey industry in Hawai'i. In response to this detection, the department has invoked the Incident Command System to coordinate and manage rapid response efforts. It is not known how the SHB arrived in Hawai'i. On Tuesday, April 27,2010, a beekeeper on a Panav ewa farm contacted HDOA's entomologist in Hilo about beetles he found in the hives on the farm. The entomologist collected four beetles and together with HDOA entomologists in Honolulu made a preliminary identification. Samples of the beetles were confirmed as SHB on Friday, April 30, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Identification Service in Riverdale, MD.