Diseased bee. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a honeybee (Apis mellifera) infected with mites (Varroa sp., not seen). The mites cause a

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Diseased bee. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a honeybee (Apis mellifera) infected with mites (Varroa sp., not seen). The mites cause a disease called varroatosis, which often results in deformed wings. Honeybee mites feed on the body fluid of adult bees and their pupae. Female mites lay their eggs inside the wax brood cells that contain larvae. There, the mites can cause significant damage to a bee's development, as seen here. Infestation of a hive with mites can cause eventual destruction of the colony. Honeybees are economically important as pollinators of many of the world's crops.

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Size: 2290px × 2848px
Photo credit: © VOLKER STEGER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: animal, apis, arachnida, bee, blood-sucker, blood-sucking, coloured, damaged, deformed, disease-carrying, disease-causing, diseased, haematophage, haematophagous, honeybee, infected, invertebrates, malformed, mellifera, mite, nature, parasite, parasitic, sem, sp., varroa, varroatosis, vector, wildlife, wing, zoology