Small hive beetle (Aethina tumida) threat on the horizon

Abstract

Beekeeping is an agricultural industry that deals with breeding bees, obtaining honey, wax, and other products. Bees are used for pollination of many types of crops to increase their harvest. Beekeeping products are also used in medicine, pharmacology, chemical, and food industries. One of the essential aspects of successful beekeeping development is ensuring sustainable epizootic well-being from infectious and invasive bee diseases in Ukraine. About 3 million bee colonies are owned by private farms and amateur beekeepers, which give approximately 50-60 thousand tons of commercial honey and 1.2–1.4 thousand tons of wax per year at the current stage of beekeeping development in Ukraine. Honey and bee products from Ukraine received 15 prestigious awards in various categories at the 77th National Honey Show, held in London among many countries in 2008. In recent years, there has been a constant increase in the threat of new little-known invasive and infectious diseases that pose a significant danger to beekeeping worldwide. The invasion of the small hive beetle Aethina tumida belongs to quarantine and hazardous invasive diseases, which have destroyed many bee colonies in several countries worldwide (USA, Canada, African countries, Australia, some European countries – Italy, and Portugal). There are no effective methods of preventing and controlling the small hive beetle. The only way to prevent the invasion of the small hive beetle in Ukraine is constant monitoring and control at the state border of the movement of bee packages and bee products, which may pose a threat to introducing this invasive species into Ukraine.