Global Honey Bee Viral Landscape Altered by a Parasitic Mite

Abstract

Honey Bees Beware of the Mite The emergence of a virulent form of a viral disease that has long been associated with the world-wide death of honey bees has occurred in the Hawaiian archipelago. Martin et al. (p. 1304 ) exploited this unique situation to study the mechanisms behind the emergence. Honey bee populations have long been established on the isolated Hawaiian Islands but only recently have some islands become infested with the Varroa mite. This mite has selected for a single viral pathogen-deformed wing virus among the honey bee population, with the appearance of a single dominant virus strain, which has now spread worldwide. Thus, a normally benign viral pathogen has become one of the most widely distributed and contagious insect viruses on the planet.