Beekeeping Glossary

A

• Acute Bee Paralysis Virus (ABPV) The Acute Bee Paralysis Virus, ABPV for short, belongs to a group of closely related viruses that are present latently in many colonies.
• American Foulbrood American Foulbrood is a bacterial brood disease caused by Paenibacillus larvae.
• Amoeba Dysentery Amoeba dysentery is caused by the single-celled organism Malpighamoeba mellificae.
• Asian Hornet (Vespa velutina) The Asian hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax is an introduced species that has been spreading in Germany since it was first detected near Karlsruhe in 2014.

B

• Bee Louse The bee louse, Braula coeca, is despite its name not a louse but a wingless fly about one to one and a half millimeters in size.
• Beewolf The beewolf Philanthus triangulum is a digger wasp that, despite its name, is neither related to bees nor a bee pest in the strict sense.
• Black Queen Cell Virus (BQCV) The Black Queen Cell Virus, BQCV for short, mainly affects queen pupae.

C

• Chalkbrood Chalkbrood is a fungal disease of the bee brood.
• Chilled Brood Chilled brood is spoken of when the colony can no longer maintain the brood nest temperature and the brood dies as a result.
• Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus (CBPV) Chronic Bee Paralysis is caused by the Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus, CBPV for short, and affects the adult bees of a colony.

D

• Deformed Wing Virus The deformed wing virus, DWV for short, is one of the most significant viruses of the honey bee.
• Drone Brooding (Laying Workers) A colony is drone-brooding when only unfertilized eggs are laid, producing exclusively drones.
• Dysentery (Winter Bee Diarrhea) Dysentery is not a contagious disease but a diarrheal condition of the winter bees.

E

• European Foulbrood European Foulbrood, also called sourbrood (Sauerbrut) in beekeeping German, is caused by the bacterium Melissococcus plutonius.
• European Hornet at the Apiary The European hornet Vespa crabro is the only species of the genus Vespa originally native to Germany.

G

• Greater and Lesser Wax Moth Two species of wax moth occur in Central Europe: the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella and the lesser wax moth Achroia grisella.

H

• Hairless Black Syndrome (Schwarzsucht) In hairless black syndrome, also called forest-flow disease in German usage, the bees lose their hair.

M

• May Disease May disease, also called pollen constipation or protein constipation, is a non-contagious digestive disorder of young bees.
• Mice and Woodpeckers at the Apiary In the winter half of the year, it is less disease than vertebrates that threaten colonies.

N

• Nosema Disease Nosemosis is the most common disease of adult bees.

P

• Pesticide Poisoning Poisoning by plant protection products usually shows up as a sudden, unusually high die-off in front of the entrances and in the vicinity of the affected colonies, often at several colonies of an apiary at the same time.

Q

• Queenless Agitation and Queenlessness Queenless roar describes the behavior of a colony that has lost its queen or no longer perceives her as adequate.

R

• Robbing Robbing refers to bees raiding foreign colonies to steal their stores.

S

• Sacbrood Sacbrood is caused by the sacbrood virus, SBV for short, and is one of the most widespread bee viruses.
• Small Hive Beetle (Aethina tumida) The Small Hive Beetle Aethina tumida originates from southern Africa and has spread worldwide through trade.
• Stonebrood (Aspergillosis) Stonebrood is a rare but serious fungal disease in the honey bee colony.

T

• Tracheal Mite (Acarapisosis) The tracheal mite Acarapis woodi is a tiny parasite, about a tenth of a millimeter in size, that lives in the front pair of tracheae of adult bees.
• Tropilaelaps Mite Tropilaelaps mites are brood parasites of the honey bee, originally from Asia, where they live on the giant honey bees found there.

V

• Varroosis (Varroa Mite) Varroosis is the disease of a bee colony caused by the mite Varroa destructor.

W

• Wasps The common wasp and the German wasp hunt insects in late summer, including honey bees.
• Winter Starvation Food shortage in winter is one of the most common causes of loss and, at the same time, one of the most preventable.