Deformed wing virus in western honey bees (Apis mellifera) from Atlantic Canada and the first description of an overtly-infected emerging queen

Geoffrey R. Williams, Richard E.L. Rogers, Abby L. Kalkstein, Benjamin A. Taylor, Dave Shutler, Nancy Ostiguy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

41 Scopus citations

Abstract

Deformed wing virus (DWV) in western honey bees (Apis mellifera) often remains asymptomatic in workers and drones, and symptoms have never been described from queens. However, intense infections linked to parasitism by the mite Varroa destructor can cause worker wing deformity and death within 67 h of emergence. Ten workers (eight with deformed wings and two with normal wings) and three drones (two with deformed wings and one with normal wings) from two colonies infected with V. destructor from Nova Scotia, Canada, and two newly-emerged queens (one with deformed wings and one with normal wings) from two colonies infected with V. destructor from Prince Edward Island, Canada, were genetically analyzed for DWV. We detected DWV in all workers and drones, regardless of wing morphology, but only in the deformed-winged queen. This is the first report of DWV from Atlantic Canada and the first detection of a symptomatic queen with DWV from anywhere.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)77-79
Number of pages3
JournalJournal of invertebrate pathology
Volume101
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2009

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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