Johan Van Veen

• PhD
• Senior Researcher at National University of Costa Rica

Management, brood nest structure and factors associated with varroa mite infestation were studied in 60 apiaries of Africanized honey bees in the northwest region of the Central Valley of Costa Rica. Apiaries were monitored two times. The first monitoring was taken forward during the rainy season between May and November 2019. The second monitoring...

Queens play an essential role in the colonies of stingless bees. Typically, only one queen occurs in a colony at any time, and she dominates the egg laying. Their presence maintains colony cohesion and ensures the development and survivorship of these matriarchal societies. Yet there remain significant gaps in our knowledge of queen life cycles as...

Management, brood nest structure and factors associated with varroa mites infestation were studied in 60 apiaries of Africanized honey bees in the northwest region of the Central Valley of Costa Rica. Apiaries were monitored two times. The first monitoring was taken forward between May and November 2019 (rainy season) and the second one between Feb...

The prevalence of the microsporidium Nosema spp. was studied during the rainy months from July to November 2017 in 10 Africanized honeybees colonies in Atenas-Alajuela, Costa Rica. In addition, the number of spores and the infection level were compared in group and individual samples of adult bees from the same colony. The apiary was sampled once a...

On 26 September 1997, Varroa jacobsoni was detected in samples of brood and adult bees of three colonies from the Los Santos region of Costa Rica. Since no acaricides are registered for veterinary use in Costa Rica, the National University's Centre for Research on Tropical Bees (CINAT) and the Ministry of Agriculture are trying to fight the mite wi...

In this chapter specific management techniques for keeping defensive Africanized honeybees are discussed. First of all the use of individual hive stands and the importance of climate factors are discussed amongst others in locating an apiary. Secondly management techniques are presented directed to diminish the aggressiveness of the bees and to red...

Any form of beekeeping is based on the biology of the bees. In this chapter a brief description is offered of the basic essentials of bee biology, which are necessary for beekeepers to understand so they can accordingly implement proper management of their hives. The life cycle, nest architecture, division of labour amongst worker bees, foraging st...

Bee diseases, pests, and recently the collapse of colonies have become amongst the beekeeper’s biggest problems. Much can be done however to reduce the impact of pests and diseases and to prevent them from occurring in the apiary. In this chapter several management techniques are described that will help to prevent the hives from becoming infested...

This Book intends to address all aspects needed to develop beekeeping into a powerful instrument of rural development and will focus on beekeeping as a tool for Poverty Alleviation and Livelihood security. In the backdrop of the social and economic issues of the people living in poverty region, the book aims to delineate specific motivation approac...

Varroa destructor is known to be the most serious parasite of Apis mellifera worldwide. In order to reproduce varroa females enter worker or drone brood shortly before the cell is sealed. From March to December 2008, the reproductive rate and offspring mortality (mature and immature stages), focusing on male absence and male mortality of V. destruc...

Individual reproductive behaviour of queens and their contacts with workers was studied in experimental polygyne nests with food shortage and food abundance. As a measure for dominance we used the number of eggs produced by individual queens. The egg production of individual queens was determined by means of a colour-marking technique. Queen presen...

Reproductive division of labor in advanced eusocial honey bees and stingless bees is based on the ability of totipotent female larvae to develop into either workers or queens. In nearly all species, caste is determined by larval nutrition. However, the mechanism that triggers queen development in Melipona bees is still unresolved. Several hypothese...

stingless bee–Melipona beecheii–queen acceptance–dominance behavior–physical aggression

Since its first contact with Apis mellifera, the population dynamics of the parasitic mite Varroa destructor varies from one region to another. In many regions of the world, apiculture has come to depend on the use of acaricides, because of the extensive damage caused by varroa to bee colonies. At present, the mite is considered to contribute to th...

Stingless bees produce considerable numbers of virgin queens over the year, most of which are superfluous and get executed by the workers. Nothing is known yet about the sign stimulus that releases the worker attacks. In the present study we investigated the queen execution process in Melipona beecheii and found in both behavioral observations and...

The ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor is currently the most important pest of the honey bee, Apis mellifera. Because mite reproduction occurs within the sealed cell, the direct observation of varroa activity inside the cell is difficult. A video observation method using transparent polystyrol cells containing infested brood was used to analyze t...

The development of Varroa destructor Anderson & Trueman (Mesostigmata: Varroidae) population dynamics in Africanized honey bees, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colonies was monitored from February to July 2004 in Atenas, Costa Rica. A correlation between the mite infestation level and the colony condition was evaluated. For each colony, in...

Colony infestation by the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor is one of the most serious problems for beekeeping worldwide. In order to reproduce varroa females, enter worker or drone brood shortly before the cell is sealed. To test the hypothesis that, due to the preference of mites to invade drone brood to reproduce, a high proportion of the mite r...

The reproductive rate of Varroa destructor was measured in drone brood of Africanized honey bees (AHB) in Costa Rica. One mature female mite was introduced into a drone cell within 6 h of the cell being capped. Data were obtained from 304 artificially singly infested drone cells from six colonies. Fertility of varroa mites (i.e., those that produce...

The production of queens and drones was studied for the stingless bee Melipona beecheii (Apidae, Meliponini) in relation to food storage and brood and adult populations. We found a negative correlation between the quantity of food stored and brood and adult populations. The colony growth observed at the end of the rainy season, a period characteriz...

From February to July 2001, the reproductive ability of Varroa destructor in artificially infested worker brood cells of Africanized honey bees (AHB) (Apis mellifera) and hybrids (HF1) of AHB x European honey bees was investigated in Costa Rica. No significant differences were found between AHB and HF1 in the percentage of fertile foundress mites (...

Newly emerged bees with damaged wings, bees crawling in front of the hive and unusually severe adult bee mortality were observed in Africanized honey bee colonies in Costa Rica. A large proportion of the adult bee population in most of these colonies was infested with Varroa destructor. Adult bee samples were sent to the Department of Entomology, P...

We examined the food provisioning and oviposition process (POP) for worker- and gyne-producing cells of Melipona beecheii. POPs for both castes did not differ significantly in duration and number of trophic eggs oviposited by workers in the cells. The frequency of food discharges by workers in gyne-producing cells was significantly less than in wor...

Colony multiplication of the neotropical stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula started with the finding of a new nesting site by scout bees, followed by the cleaning of the cavity. Cerumen was flown in from the mother colony for the sealing of crevices and the construction of an entrance tube. Major investment of the mother colony in the daughter ne...

The behaviour of gynes of Melipona beecheii in queen-deprived colonies was studied. The period after emergence until acceptance is characterized by agonistic behaviour of workers towards the gynes. The gynes escaped from this worker aggression by hiding in the periphery of the nest, by performing rapid turn-arounds once grabbed by a worker, and "fe...

The nuptial flight of gynes of Tetragonisca angustula and Melipona beecheii was studied. The moment of nuptial flight was found to be related to the ambient temperature, and the duration of the nuptial flight for M. beecheii was longer in November (rainy season) than in March (dry season). A repeated mating flight was recorded for two gynes of T. a...

The log hives of 19 colonies of the stingless bee Melipona beecheii were opened and adult and brood populations, stored nectar and pollen, and other nest characteristics were recorded. Adult populations were found to be between 500 and 2500. The presence of queen pupae in the brood and the size of the brood nest were found to be positively correlat...

On 26 September 1997, Varroa jacobsoni was detected in samples of brood and adult bees of three colonies from the Los Santos region of Costa Rica. Since no acaricides are registered for veterinary use in Costa Rica, the National University's Centre for Research on Tropical Bees (CINAT) and the Ministry of Agriculture are trying to fight the mite wi...

Summary The behaviour of drones of different species of Melipona was studied in Costa Rica and on Tobago. Drones of all species behaved very similarly. The intranidal behavioural analysis indicates that drones spent most time on standing, walking, stirring the antennae and self-grooming. The only “typical worker behaviour”, occasionally performed b...