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closeControl measures for phorid flies
Posted by Keith_Henson on 06 Jan 2012 at 01:02 GMT
This might be obvious, but it seems what you have found suggests a control strategy.
Clean dead bees out of the bottom of the hives every day and destroy them. Same with any bees that emerge from the hive at night, they should go into a trap that kills them and the parasites.
Very impressive research, thanks.
RE: Control measures for phorid flies
phoridae replied to Keith_Henson on 07 Jan 2012 at 16:54 GMT
That would probably help, but don't forget there is a wild reservoir in bumble bee colonies.
RE: RE: Control measures for phorid flies
Keith_Henson replied to phoridae on 08 Jan 2012 at 20:53 GMT
That's true and these flies seem to become indiscriminate between bumble bees and honey bees. That might be their undoing. If most of those that lay eggs on bees are a reproductive dead end due to human control measures, that should put a serious drain on the population.