# aethina thumida in Italy



## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

most times aethina tumida is refered to as 'small hive beetle".
there are many discussions on it here, search for small hive beetle.
Our warmer southern states deal with them the most but they are in the colder northern states as well.


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

edy said:


> Perhaps,as you know from different sources this little coleopterus it arrives step by step also in Europe,first in Portugal,than in Spain and lately in Italy,


edy your statement is not correct. In Portugal there was a case a few years ago , it is true . But was quickly confined and eliminated, and has not spread . Currently in Portugal , there is not this plague. I think in Spain either. You can see more about here: http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?305582-SBH-in-Europe

The best for you and the Italian beeks in this new front.


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## apis maximus (Apr 4, 2011)

edy said:


> The italian governement as urgent misure of protection against this danger has initiated to focalise it in the infested areas ,than by burning of thoundas and thoudans of bees colonies,but no real positive results at the moment are concludent.


Wow, that is interesting how the Italian government would initiate and implement such drastic measures...But, considering the biolgy of this bug, there is no surprise that by burning the hives, nothing of significance was accomplished.

There are quite a bit of resources out there in the Internet world about *Aethina tumida*. I particularly like this one, because it has a nice layout about explaining what this "nasty" bug is, and what it does when it comes to honey bees. Here it is:
http://www.clemson.edu/psapublishing/Pages/Entom/EB160.pdf

According to credible sources, this bug was first detected in USA sometimes around 1996...so we had it here, particularly in the South.
I have them in my hives...
One thing I have noticed, and more than likely others have too, is that strong hives deal with them just fine. Beetles just like other insects have their own life cycle...In my humble opinion, one would have to understand the life cycle of the bug before trying to "do something about it".

However, it is a nasty little bug, very well equipped to do damage to a bee colony...especially a weak, stressed out colony.

There is A LOT, and I mean A LOT of beekeepers that have started the WAR on these things. From contraptions, to chemicals, to tricks to just about anything.
A lot of discussions about experiences with these bugs.


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## Richter1978 (Oct 3, 2013)

There's an article in this months Bee Culture about the small hive beetle in Italy, nasty buggers.


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Welcome Edy!


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## Snowhitsky (Mar 1, 2014)

Eduardo Gomes said:


> Currently in Portugal , there is not this plague. I think in Spain either.


No SHB in Spain so far. I know all European imports of bees from Italy have practically ceased as the big commercial outfits in Spain are getting more and more calls to supply the shortfall in bees to the French.

Best of luck to Italy in dealing with SHB but I suspect it is only a matter of time before SHB is here to stay.


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## mbc (Mar 22, 2014)

Eduardo Gomes said:


> The best for you and the Italian beeks in this new front.


+1


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## edy (Jan 1, 2015)

Thank you all for yours answer,but at the moment as I can see there is no medicine or tehnicque that work on this direction. One tried some traps,plastic traps filled with mineral oils,some has used cumafos 10%,others permetrina 40% around the hives on soil as a desinfectation of it, most the fire as unique chance to fight it,but I think in my mind that our bees will never disappear ,our duty as human being and real beekeepers is to try any method to save them, to give a chance to survive in nowadays conditions of clima and enviroment.
In this direction, a real weappon on our hands is the selection of our bees, and many of us due to a lack of time and experience had ignore it or don"t pay attention, but as brother Adam as done 90 years ago with english bee against acarapis woodi we can do it again with aetina thumida or vespa velutina or any else of the future enemies of our bees.
In this way I wil share some of my experience about 30 years in this field with the hope some of you can learn some good useful things.


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## edy (Jan 1, 2015)

In the latest 50 years many scientist persons,beekeepers a.s.on came all on agreed that we have one means at our disposition on how we can change the destiny of the bees:the selection.
For million and million of years the NATURE was the only one able to do it,and did it so well, we can"t imagine, neither the best selectioner of the world could make such a good one,BUT one point we must have in mind: the NATURE never select a bee for our purpose,for our commercial beekeeping, viceversa it selected the only strong bee who was able to survive to different ambiental conditions.
Therefore,we find out today different races,varieties,lines of bees, many not yet discovered,hiding in the remote part of the world.Right in that places we can find a lot of answers at our questions,riht there the NATURE has hidden its treasure for our future.


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