State officials have made the first known detection in Alaska of the small hive beetle, an “economically significant” pest of honey bees, according to an alert published in late September.
An Alaska pest expert hopes a coordinated effort with beekeepers will get the situation under control, but a master beekeeper in the Fairbanks area says she isn’t confident that’ll be enough.
Staff with the Alaska Division of Agriculture discovered the pest in August during an inspection at an apiary in the Copper River Census Area, according to a press release from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The release says the detection was later confirmed during the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Honey Bee Disease Survey.
Lorraine Henry, director of communications for DNR, also said by email that the apiary had not followed certain state regulations related to importing bees.
The beetle’s larvae feed on bee brood, or the immature bees within a hive. The larvae also eat honey, causing it to ferment and spoil due to yeast and other microbes that are on their bodies.
“The honey then ends up with a foul smell. It can make the honey really slimy as it’s fermenting, and so that honey is no longer marketable,” said Alex Wenninger, an entomologist and integrated pest management technician with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, in a phone interview.
“And so they’re impacting both quality and quantity of honey produced,” Wenninger said.
Small hive beetles can reach about a quarter-inch in length. The pest alert says adults, which can fly, are ovular and brown or black in color, with club-shaped antennae. The beetles originate from sub-Saharan Africa and were introduced to the United States in 1996. They’ve spread elsewhere in the world, including places like Australia, Italy and South Korea.
The apiary in the Copper River region had imported bee packages from Mississippi, according to both the pest alert and the press release. Neither document named the apiary.
“Somebody’s boxes of bees had small hive beetle in them, and whoever got them did not know what to look for, or they would’ve noticed it. And they should’ve noticed it,” said Lisa Hay, who owns Happy Creek Farm in the Goldstream area near Fairbanks and is a master beekeeper.
Hay said in a phone interview it’s disappointing that the small hive beetle made its way to Alaska. She fears it will now pass from colony to colony, moving on to other parts of the state.
Hay said beekeeping is technical, and that practitioners need sufficient background knowledge to do it successfully and responsibly.
“Many beekeepers don’t know what they’re doing,” she said. “They don’t take a class. They might watch some stuff online. And I tell them, when they ask me, that it’s easier to get a puppy or have a child.”
Alaska law requires that imported bees are accompanied by a health certificate stating that the bees come from an apiary apparently free of bee diseases. The certificate must be signed by an inspector deemed qualified by the Alaska Division of Agriculture. State regulations also say the person importing the bees must send the division a copy of the health certificate within 72 hours of the bees’ arrival, among other requirements.
Henry, the DNR communications director, said by email Monday that the apiary in the Copper River area did not submit a health certificate on time for the Mississippi shipment, sending it only after state officials made a formal request. The certificate the apiary sent the state, reviewed by KUAC, notes that small hive beetles are endemic in Mississippi but does not say that the bee package was free of them.
The certificate appears with the signature of Laura Vollor, the director for the State of Mississippi’s Bureau of Plant Industry. It does certify that bees inspected at Coy’s Honey Farm in Mississippi were apparently free from other diseases, like American and European foulbrood.
Henry declined to name the Alaska apiary, and said Division of Agriculture staff are “looking into options to limit the risk of this happening in the future.”
An August article published by the Mississippi State University Extension Service says the small hive beetle is the newest honey bee pest in North America, and states that a bad infestation can consume an entire hive in a few days.
With the help of attentive beekeepers, Wenninger, the entomologist, hopes very few hives in Alaska – if any – will meet that fate. For one, she said Alaska’s cold winters and short summers may hamper the reproduction and development of the beetles, which thrive in higher temperatures and can’t survive at 10 degrees Fahrenheit or lower for more than 24 hours.
“Outside of Alaska, in some of the more southern states, they can get many generations each summer,” she said. “Whereas, here in Alaska, we wouldn’t expect them to be able to reproduce that quickly.”
The beetles can overwinter in honey bee hives, but the pest alert estimates that Alaska’s climate could limit them to two generations per year.
Between that and the detection only happening at a single apiary, Wenninger said there’s a chance to stem the spread now. She said beekeepers across the state should be aware of the situation, and that people in the Copper River region should be particularly careful.
“At this point, though, the hope is that this can be contained and eradicated with cooperation from beekeepers in that area,” Wenninger said.
But Hay, the master beekeeper, is less optimistic. She said she also hopes the state can get a handle on it, but she cited Alaska’s inexperience in dealing with the small hive beetle, and said that it may have already reached other apiaries that haven’t been inspected.
“It’s a small disaster that’s going to become a big disaster,” she said.
“I think there’s going to be more, and that’s really frustrating and disappointing,” Hay added.
According to the pest alert, if a beekeeper notices a small hive beetle, they should capture it, preserve it, and notify the Alaska Division of Agriculture at dnr.ag.ssc@alaska.gov before taking further action.
This story has been updated to add an image of the health certificate.