Sunday, May 8, 2011

Small Hive Beetle?

While watching one of my weaker hives this morning, I noticed ants carrying off wax cappings. It appears they have their colony directly beneath my hive in a crack in the cement. While watching the ants, I noticed a small black beetle walking around on the cement. I caught the beetle and placed it in the underside of a frisbee so I could watch it. It could not crawl up the sides of the frisbee. It looked like a small hive beetle. I took it in the house to look up pictures on the internet and compare. It was the same size. It was black. It was the same shape. It has the clubbed antennae. As far as I can tell it is a Small Hive Beetle. I have not heard of SHB in Utah. I grabbed a bottle to put it in but then noticed that it was gone. I looked all over the computer desk and the floor around it. Nothing. I had my wife help look for it telling her that it couldn't have gone far. She says to me "don't they fly?". Duh. Why didn't I think of that. I was gonna see if I could have someone with the state ag dept identify it for me. I guess I can't now.

I'll open that hive this week to see if there is any evidence of more.

It's possible that it could have come to the area in a package or nuc. Most beekeepers have recently purchased their new bees as packages or nucs and these come from out of state. Could they have brought the beetle with them? Can they survive here?

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