Tropilaelaps on The Way.

Introduction

10/10/25. Tropilaelaps is on my mind this week and I’m working on a blog post with infographics which are not straightforward to produce. I’ll be catching a train soon to Dundee on my way to the Scottish Beekeepers’ Association convention in Fife. Great speakers this year and wild horses couldn’t drag me away. Professor Stephen Martin and my friend Megan Denver who works for Bees for Development are each giving two presentations.

Tropilaelaps

Last week I wrote to Dr Maggie Gill asking if she had any photographs of Tropilaelaps mercedesae that I could use with credits. I knew that she had been speaking at Apimondia in Denmark and was surprised to learn that she was straight off from there to Georgia to study tropilaelaps with her colleagues. Did you know that they have just published a book to be released on 23^rd October? I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of Tropilaelaps At the gate of your Apiary. It won’t break the bank either at just under £20.

Maggie told me that she is about 45 minutes from the Black Sea and the daytime temperatures are 27 °C dropping to 12°C at night. Goldenrod is flowering and drones are being produced in October which is a big surprise. When you study the geography and climate of that region it’s easy to see why our new enemy is flourishing there. This photo shows the damage that these mites do to brood by savagely tearing them open creating many holes for access to haemolymph and fat body tissue. You can see all the brown marks which are entry points.

Apiary News

Not much to report from my own apiary apart from brood nests shrinking and no nectar worth mentioning coming in. I can tell because the bees are flocking to water sources in our garden. I continue to count varroa and earmark colonies that might need oxalic acid next month. One colony had 130 immature mites drop in ten days.

As I was replacing a mite tray I spotted this magnificent comma butterfly, Polygonia c-album, resting on a mahonia leaf. My first ever sighting. I didn’t even know why they were called commas till I spotted the white marking on the underwing and checked in my butterfly book.

I also thought they were rare in the north but it seems that they have been increasing in numbers in the last 30 years, and lots of folk have seen them in Nairnshire this summer. They hibernate as adults and appear in March and April. In good summers they produce two batches of offspring in July and then in August or September. This was a very good summer.