Bee with Mites

A bumble bee, Bombus sp (Hymenoptera: Apidae) infested with mites.  I was rather surprised to come across parasites so early in the spring as I had assumed that they don't really get going till later in the year.  This bee was rather torpid: it didn't try to fly away when I approached it, but just waved a leg at me.

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-03-28.

Update on Tue 2010-03-30 by Tristram Brelstaff

This afternoon I overheard a discussion of bee mites on BBC Radio 4.  Apparently the mites that are commonly seen on bumble bees in the spring are not thought to be parasitic, but are just hitch-hikers.  They spend most of the year in the bee's nest scavenging on scraps of food but in the spring, when the queen bee is about to leave in search of a new nest, the mites climb onto her, so as not to be left behind.  When the queen founds a new nest, the mites dismount and make it their new home. 

The above bee is therefore probably a queen.

Comments

[Nathan]

Sounds like a lot of people I know =)

[Justin Hill]

I found a queen bee on the floor he was moving but did not fly away. I decided to take it home before it got stood on. When I got it home I discovered all these mites around the back of its neck. At first I thought they were eating the bee. I then placed the bee in water and the mites came off. I counted about 40. I thought they were parasites. The bee never made a full recovery and died a day later despite my efforts to give it sugared water and placing it on a few flowers.
Justin from Plymouth