DOI: 10.5061/dryad.h18931zk6
title: Parallel evolution of Varroa resistance in honey bees; a common mechanism across continents?

description: The near-globally distributed ecto-parasitic mite of the Apis mellifera
 honey bee, Varroa destructor, has formed a lethal association with
 Deformed wing virus, a once rare and benign RNA virus. In concert the two
 have killed millions of wild and managed colonies, particularly across the
 northern hemisphere, forcing the need for regular acaricide application to
 ensure colony survival. However, despite the short association (in
 evolutionary terms), A. mellifera populations across the globe have been
 surviving many years without any mite control methods. This long-term
 survival, or Varroa resistance, is consistently associated with the same
 suite of traits, recapping, brood removal and reduced mite reproduction,
 irrespective of location. Here we conduct an analysis of data extracted
 from 60 papers to illustrate how these traits connect together to explain
 decades of mite resistance data. For the first time we have potentially a
 unified understanding of natural Varroa resistance that will help the
 global industry achieve widespread miticide free beekeeping and indicate
 how different honey bee populations across four continents have resolved a
 recent threat using the same suite of behaviours.
description: We searched the published literature for data on resistance
 traits for both susceptible and resistant honey bee colonies. In order to
 standardise the data, studies had to use natural comb and any infested
 cells contained only a single foundress mite. For recapping and brood
 removal data the number of cells examined by the study had to be greater
 than 50. Equally for mite non-reproduction data the sample sizes had to
 include at least 50 infested cells. Where possible single colony data was
 extracted from the studies. All recapping data (<em>n </em>=
 163) came from single colonies; for brood removal nine of the 86 data
 points are colony averages; for mite infertility 75 of the 99 data points
 are colony averages, due to sample size limitations (see supplementary
 data for all source data).
description: This data set contains the individual data points used to create
 Figures 1b, 1c, 1e and 1h. The data points were extracted from other
 studies and so the table gives information on the author of the paper, the
 location in which the study took place and how many honey bee colonies
 were used to create the data point (all references can be found in the
 supplementary data). Tables with the title susceptible
 brood removal and resistant brood removal include data used to create
 figure 1b, this data is the percentage of infested brood that a colony or
 colonies removed within the 10 day time period. EHB = European honey
 bees. Tables with
 the title susceptible recapped and resistant recapped include data used to
 create figure1c, this data is the percentage of infested cells that had
 been recapped. Tables with the title susceptible mite
 infertility and resistant mite infertility include the data used to create
 figure 1e, this data is the percentage of female mites that failed to
 produce viable offspring. * &gt;1 indicates that more than one colony
 was used but the exact number could not be ascertained from the
 paper. Tables with the title AHB 1996-1999 and AHB
 2018-2019 include the data used to create figure 1h, this data is the
 percentage of worker brood infested with <em>Varroa </em>at
 the time of measuring. AHB = Africanised honey bees. The dates indicate
 the rough time frame in which the data was collected. * highlights the
 unpublished data that was kindly provided by Dr Luis Medina, Department of
 Apiculture, Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan, Mexico from an ongoing study,
 and allows a direct comparison between this 2019 data and the Cabrera
  1998 , Medina & Martin  1999  data that all came from the same
 honey bee population.