# Pseudo Scorpion



## Beemeister (Jun 26, 2006)

So Michael, is this the secret weapon in your arsenal in the fight against the varroa mite? Are these the new silver bullet?

Become a pseudo scorpion farmer....Don't miss out on this once in a lifetime investment opportunity!... Bee your own boss!... Work the hours that you want.... Have time to really enjoy life....Unlimited income potential...

Sign me up for a mated pair!

With your feral bees and small cell/ natural cell low mite counts, you probably have some really hungry pseudo scorpions.... I think that I can feed them much better than you since my bees aren't fully regressed yet!

OK, enough clowning around! It's time for me to do a little research on these little critters.

Tim


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## Beemeister (Jun 26, 2006)

I just did a search here on Beesource and also googled it....Very interesting...especially the part about the smooth walls of our modern beehive not providing hiding places for them....It was also interesting to read about the things we're using in our hives to kill mites are probably killing these guys too.

Now if these pseudo scorpions would eat mites and deer ticks, they would become my new best friend!

Tim


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## MIKI (Aug 15, 2003)

I remember a short lived conversation about these creatures a few years back. Nothing really panned out as an IPM possibility.

Mike, I PM'ed you on another issue.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I had never seen one in a hive before. No, I didn't put them there or make any effort to raise them, but they seem to have arrived on their own.


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## Beemeister (Jun 26, 2006)

Michael,

Where in the hive did you discover it? What was it doing? What size was it? What color was it? Other than pictures, I've never seen one.

If I remember right, I think there was an article in the Am. Bee Journal a few years ago written by Dewey Caron on pseudo scorpions. 

Tim


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## Dave W (Aug 3, 2002)

PSEUDOSCORPIONS or false scorpion (common name for any of a group of small arachnids that look like tiny scorpions but lack the scorpion's long tail and sting) occur worldwide in leaf litter and soil, under rocks and logs, and on inter-tidal algae. 
[http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/arachnids/pseudoscorpion/ ]. The 8-legged arthropods w/ a body up to about 3/8” (8 mm) long have a pair of comparatively huge pincers projecting well in front and look very much like real scorpions, but are not very closely related [ABJ, 10/06, p867]. Of the well-defined group of about 3000 species, only about a dozen have been reported living in beehives, often mingling w/ the bees, and some clinging on to swarming bees [ABJ, 10/06, p867].

The genus Ellingsenius, of which there are two species known in South Africa, namely E. sculpturatus and E. fulleri, is unusual in that it has been reported to be restricted to the nests of bees or associated with honeybees by many authors. Pseudoscorpions live along with bees in hives, in some cases both adults and nymphs were found clinging on to adult worker bees close to the neck. Several papers have been published suggesting that the presence of psudoscorpions in the beehive have a negative effect on Varroa mites. 
http://www.arc.agric.za/institutes/ppri/main/divisions/biosysdiv/pseudoscorpion/bees.htm ARC-PPRI Biosystematic Divisions,
Contact: Elizabeth Kassimatis, E-mail: [email protected].

Recently pseudoscorpions have been found in colonies of the Western honey bee in India. Pseudoscorpions (Ellingsenius indicus) collected from colonies of the Eastern honey bee in India have been photographed eating arthropod enemies of honey bees, including Varroa and wax moth larva. Honey bees have not been attacked [ABJ, 10/06, p867].

A species reported in Europe nearly 60 years ago has been lost. Only one record of pseudoscorpions in US beehives has been reported (in Claremont, California), and Chamberlin (1932) believed the record to be erroneous [ABJ, 10/06, p868]. 

Available evidence strongly suggest that pseudoscorpions have the potential to be restored to colonies of Western honey bees for non-chemical, self-sustaining biological control of many arthropod enemies of the bees [ABJ, 10/06, p867].


PLEASE NOTE:
Only one record of pseudoscorpions in US beehives has been reported (in Claremont, California), and Chamberlin (1932) believed the record to be erroneous [ABJ, 10/06, p868].


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

The one I saw was quite small. I'd say only slightly bigger than a Varroa.

So far I've only seen the one. Hopefully I'll see more as time goes on.

They are very distinctive looking. I don't see how anyone could mistake them for something else.


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## Soilman (Apr 30, 2007)

This has got me thinking, a few weeks ago I saw alot of what I identified as Assassin Bugs like this. I knew the adults sometimes take honeybees, but was wondering if they smaller ones might take care of some bettles or mites.. maybe.. they seemed fat


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## Slebrati (Apr 17, 2014)

My first post.
So what is the feedback from pseudo scorpions users ?
Why does the last post dates from 2007 ?
Are pseudo scorpions old news ?


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## funwithbees (Mar 27, 2010)

Here is a picture of one that I took in Nepal in 2011. They do eat mites. Its tough for them to live in our hives as our bees propolize the hiding cracks. Apis Cerana does not use any propolis.
Nick


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Slebrati said:


> My first post.
> So what is the feedback from pseudo scorpions users ? Why does the last post dates from 2007 ?


Welcome to Beesource!

There are a number of threads at Beesource that discuss pseudo scorpions. This particular one obviously had no posts after 2007 until yours, but other threads have been started since. Here's one from 2009 ...
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?225863-Varroa-Mites-predator

The best way to find similar threads is with the _Custom Search_ tool on the left side of the Beesource home page, here: www.beesource.com 

Note that the Search box on each forum page is not as robust as the _Custom Search_ on the home page.


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## funwithbees (Mar 27, 2010)

DUH!!!:doh: I didn't notice that these were OLD posts!. 
Michael, do you still have any pseudo scorpions in your hives?
nick


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I don't see them often, but I see them now and then in a hive. I see them about as much as I see small hive beetles, which is only occasionally.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

There's a number of threads on it, a feature being enthusiasm on the part of the pseudoscorpion finder, and "wow what a great idea" type reactions from other posters.

What is perhaps most revealing is that these posts have been running several years now but just fade away with no positive results reported. Nobody actually comes back and says it didn't work for them though.

The latest threads in this vein have people dumping lb's of commercially bought predatory insects into their hives, again, no positive results are ever reported.


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## funwithbees (Mar 27, 2010)

Oldtimer said:


> There's a number of threads on it, a feature being enthusiasm on the part of the pseudoscorpion finder, and "wow what a great idea" type reactions from other posters.
> 
> What is perhaps most revealing is that these posts have been running several years now but just fade away with no positive results reported. Nobody actually comes back and says it didn't work for them though.
> 
> The latest threads in this vein have people dumping lb's of commercially bought predatory insects into their hives, again, no positive results are ever reported.



OK. When I was in Jumla,Nepal , the timing of the bloom in combination with strangeness of the monsoon season, caused a non-swarming season. the beekeepers there live for swarms,both to increase their colony numbers and it is a cultural thing also. There were only 1-2 swarms in the village over the whole swarm season. We witnessed hives that were crashing from PMS, just like ours do when left untreated. I would say that although the hives had lots of pseudo scorpions that do eat mites, they don't eat enough to keep them from them from doing damage. It appeared that the swarming behavior of Apis cerana and the corresponding brood break, did more for mite reduction than the scorpions did. The bees were, in my opinion, not mite resistant. They were able to co-exist due to the swarming propensity of the bees. 

I do not believe that they would work in an apis mellifera hive here, as there is no place to hide.
Just my 2 cents
Nick


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Interesting Nick. I too found one under one of my nuc boxes about a month ago. the BIG mistake was not taking a pic, many of the people I have told kinda look away for a second, meaning they secretly think I was hallucinating.

It was similar to yours in size, but a flatter version and lighter colored, I guess designed for hunting between peeling bark, fallen leaves etc.

It was a beautiful thing to watch I was fascinated, but I could not imagine it being able to run loose among the bees, plucking mites off them.

Other thing, the stories we hear from the "good old days" when these creatures supposedly lived in hives, there were no varroa in the hives then, so there is no history or precedent of them helping bees with mites.


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## Dominic (Jul 12, 2013)

Oldtimer said:


> Interesting Nick. I too found one under one of my nuc boxes about a month ago. the BIG mistake was not taking a pic, many of the people I have told kinda look away for a second, meaning they secretly think I was hallucinating.
> 
> It was similar to yours in size, but a flatter version and lighter colored, I guess designed for hunting between peeling bark, fallen leaves etc.
> 
> ...


Varroa aren't the only mites that can reside in hives, nor even the only harmful mites. Who knows, maybe they eat tracheal mites too!


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