Summary


Social insects have a very high potential to become invasive pest species. Here, we explore how their social lifestyle and their interaction with parasites may contribute to this invasive success.
Similar to solitary species, parasite release followed by the evolution of increased competitive ability can promote establishment of introduced social insect hosts in their introduced range.
Genetic bottlenecks during introduction of low numbers of founder individuals decrease the genetic diversity at three levels: the population, the colony and the individual, with the colony level being specific to social insects. Reduced genetic diversity can affect both the individual immune system and the collective colony-level disease defences (social immunity). Still, the dual immune system is likely to make social insects more robust to parasite attack.
Changes in social structure from small, family-based, territorially aggressive societies in native populations towards huge networks of cooperating nests (unicoloniality) occur in some invasive social insects, for example, most invasive ants and some termites.
Unicoloniality is likely to affect disease dynamics in multiple ways. The free exchange of individuals within the population leads to an increased genetic heterogeneity among individuals of a single nest, thereby decreasing disease transmission. However, the multitude of reproductively active queens per colony buffers the effect of individual diseased queens and their offspring, which may result in a higher level of vertical disease transmission in unicolonial societies. Lastly, unicoloniality provides a competitive advantage over native species, allowing them to quickly become the dominant species in the habitat, which in turn selects for parasite adaptation to this common host genotype and thus eventually a high parasite pressure.
Overall, invasions by insect societies are characterized by general features applying to all introduced species, as well as idiosyncrasies that emerge from their social lifestyle. It is important to study these effects in concert to be able to develop efficient management and biocontrol strategies.

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.12013

Effects of social immunity and unicoloniality on host–parasite interactions in invasive insect societies

Foraging animals can choose to act as predators or not depending on the level of defensiveness of the potential prey. This requires prior evaluation of prey defensiveness, which can be variable, e.g. young insects are usually less able to defend themselves. Here we show that small hive beetles, Aethina tumida, which are scavengers and parasites of honey bee, Apis mellifera, colonies, are facultative predators of young adult host workers. Adult female beetles mounted and attacked young workers more often than their older nestmates, indicating that the beetle is assessing the defensiveness of the host and is adjusting its behaviour accordingly. Since adult female beetles need proteins to activate their ovaries, predation on defenceless young alive host workers offers another rewarding food source, which can obviously not be exploited by beetle larvae. In conclusion, adult small hive beetles seem to be able to assess the trade-off between safety and food reward.

/pdf/small-hive-beetles-are-facultative-predators-of-adult-honey-qj55t0u46e.pdf

Small Hive Beetles are Facultative Predators of Adult Honey Bees

Scientific Opinion on the risk of entry of Aethina tumida and Tropilaelaps spp. in the EU.

Small hive beetles, Aethina tumida, are honeybee parasites native to Africa, where they are a minor pest only. In contrast, the beetles can be harmful parasites of European honeybee subspecies. Resistance of African subspecies to infestations is probably due to quantitative differences in a series of behaviours such as absconding, aggression, removal of parasite eggs and larvae and social encapsulation. The beetles use counter-resistance tactics such as defence posture, dropping, hiding, escape, egg laying in small gaps and trophallactic mimicry. Small hive beetles are efficient in long-range transportation (US: 1996, Australia: 2002) and can establish populations in temperate regions due to their overwintering capacity in honeybee clusters. Host shifts to other bee species may also occur. Thus, small hive beetles have the potential to become a global threat to apiculture and wild bee populations. However, our knowledge of the small hive beetle is still limited, creating demand for more research in all areas of its biology.

/pdf/the-biology-of-the-small-hive-beetle-aethina-tumida-2abqp7i85p.pdf

The biology of the small hive beetle (Aethina tumida, Coleoptera: Nitidulidae): Gaps in our knowledge of an invasive species

Observations on the small hive beetle in South Africa.

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Observations on the small hive beetle in South Africa.

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Effects of social immunity and unicoloniality on host–parasite interactions in invasive insect societies

Small Hive Beetles are Facultative Predators of Adult Honey Bees

Scientific Opinion on the risk of entry of Aethina tumida and Tropilaelaps spp. in the EU.

The biology of the small hive beetle (Aethina tumida, Coleoptera: Nitidulidae): Gaps in our knowledge of an invasive species