Since it's called a small hive beetle, does that mean there's a large hive beetle, too?!

Photo: Udo Schmidt, 2006; Oplostomus fuligineus Olivier, 1789;
Location: Senegal, M`Bour

I had the opportunity to speak with Queen Turner, a biologist with the Ministry of Agriculture beekeeping section in Botswana who is diligently working toward improving the health, management, and image of honey bees and beekeeping in her country.  Botswana is located in the southernmost region of Africa, just to the north of South Africa.  Honey bees in Botswana are maintained by small scale keepers primarily, who have just a few hives each.  Honey from the colonies is important as a food and revenue source for some areas but currently honey bees are not used commercially for improved agriculture pollination.  The Botswana Bee Importation Act of 1910 closed import and export of live honey bees from the country, but swarming colonies along border regions may ignore this law.  While the presence and distribution of microscopic pests (like viruses and bacteria) have yet to be determined, larger pests clearly occur.  These include Varroa destructor mites, wax moths, small hive beetle, and large hive beetle!  I doubt many beekeepers outside of Africa have even heard of a large hive beetle since they have not been introduced to other continents.  I certainly hadn't, so I did a bit of research on them.

Two species of large hive beetle

As it turns out, there are two species of large hive beetles: Oplostomus fuligineus (Olivier) and Oplostomus haroldi (Witte).  Both are specialized pests of honey bee colonies not unlike the small hive beetles Aethinia tumida, although they are not closely related.  Small hive beetle belong to the sap beetle family (Nitidulidae) while large hive beetles are a type of scarab beetle (Scarabaeidae).  Both appear to be strongly associated with honey bee colonies.

Morphology

A lateral and dorsal view of both a small hive beetle (SHB) and the large hive beetle (LHB) O. fuligineus collected from Australia and South Africa, respectively, by Simon Hinkley and Ken Walker are shown below.  The LHB are of course quite a bit larger than the SHB, with total body length of the LHB at around 20mm compared to the 6mm SHB.  O. fuligineus and O. haroldi are similar in appearance and difficult to distinguish from one another without close examination.

Small Hive Beetle (Aethinia thumida)

Small Hive Beetle (Aethinia thumida)

Large Hive Beetle (Oplostomus fuligineus)

Large Hive Beetle (Oplostomus fuligineus)
(All above images: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australian License by Ken Walker)

Distribution

Large hive beetles have been documented pests of managed bee hives in South Africa since the early 1900's, though they have likely associated with honey bees on the continent for much longer.  Both species of LHB currently are documented only from Africa including Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.  There is evidence that O. haroldi is more frequent in coastal areas vs. inland areas so local environmental conditions may affect their prevalence.

Impact on honey bee colonies

Although SHB are more prevalent in honey bee colonies in Africa, LHB are generally considered more serious and destructive pests when they occur.  Adult LHB occur more frequently on frames rather than bottom boards, where they consume uncapped and capped brood as well as pollen and honey stores.  Since they are about as big as a honey bee, it's probably much more difficult for bees to deter them off of the frames but bees will attack by biting at them.  Ms. Turner said bees will also cover these beetles in propolis occasionally.  Probably most importantly, the presence of LHB may cause honey bee colonies to abscond (abandon) from the hive.  They may reach peak numbers of 6 to 20 per frame for O. fuligineus and O. haroldi, respectively.  Unlike SHB, larvae of both LHB species do not seem to occur in the honey bee colony and typically live and pupate in decomposing plant matter or dung of cows or donkeys.

The spread of hive beetles

Neither species of LHB have been documented outside of Africa that I have found.  Unfortunately, the SHB has been introduced to North America (mid 1990's) and Australia (early 2000's).  The first official documentation of SHB in North America was from Florida in 1998 likely via a shipment of honey bees from South Africa, where the SHB is native.  A similar accidental introduction of LHB to other continents is theoretically possible if bees or contaminated comb were to be imported.  Given the large size of these beetles, they would readily be noticed during routine opening and examining of a hive.

 

References
Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Lund Museum of Zoology - Insect collections (MZLU) (Accessed through GBIF Data Portal, data.gbif.org, 2012-05-08).

Donaldson, J.M.I. 1989. Oplostomus fuligineus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae): Life cycle and biology under laboratory conditions, and its occurrence in bee hives. The Coleopterists Bulletin 43(2):177-182.

Fombong A.T., Haas F., Ndegwa P.N., and Irungu L.W. 2012. Life history of Oplostomus haroldi (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) under laboratory conditions and a description of its third instar larva. Int. J. Trop. Ins. Sci. 32(1):56-63.

Fombong A.T., Mumoki F.N., Muli E., Masiga D.K., Arbogast R.T., Teal P.E.A., and Torto B. 2013. Occurrence, diversity and pattern of damage of Oplostomus species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), honey bee pests in Kenya. Apidologie 44:11-20.

Njau M.A., Mpuya P.M., and Mturi F.A. 2009. Apiculture potential in protected areas: the case study of Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Tanzania. Int. J. Biodiv. Sci. Management 5:95-101.

Oyerinde A.A. and Ande A.T. 2009. Distribution and impact of of honeybee pests on colony development in Kwara State, Nigeria. J. Agric. Soc. Sci. 5:85-88.

Torto B., Fombong A.T., Mutyambai D.M., Muli E., Arbogast R.T., and Teal P.E.A. 2010. Aethina tumida (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) and Oplostomus haroldi (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae): Occurrence in Kenya, distribution within honey bee colonies, and responses to host odors. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 103(3): 389-396.