Small hive beetle

Aethina tumida, commonly known as small hive beetle (SHB), is a beekeeping pest.

[1] It is native to sub-Saharan Africa, but has spread to many other regions, including North America, Australia, and the Philippines.

The small hive beetle primarily lives within the beehive and they are fed on pollen, honey and dead bees.

[4] The host has evolved some strategies to cope with the colony damage, such as imprisonment of the invader, patrolling and removal of beetle's eggs.

An infestation by small hive beetle was triggered in 2015 in British Columbia which led to a temporary quarantine.

[12] The small hive beetle was first detected in Belize in 2016 in the Corozal District[13] and was reported in Honduras in 2024 [14] The small hive beetle has also spread to Australia in areas of Richmond, New South Wales, Queensland and New South Wales.

This species is ectothermic, which means they rely on external heat sources to adjust body temperature.

[2] Small hive beetles reproduce sexually up to 5 generations each year and they are polygynandrous, meaning that both males and females mate with multiple partners.

Most small hive beetle populations reach the highest density during the summer and early autumn season with high temperature.

[4] It has been proved that the antennae of SHBs has a lower threshold to sense the component of the volatiles released from the hive entrance compared to the honeybee.

The volatiles released by bees and the yeast together suggest the availability of the food and attract more beetles, which might lead to the absconding or the complete collapse of the hive.

[4] Small hive beetles use pheromone-mediated aggregations to counteract the host defense response.

Small hive beetles grow and develop via metamorphosis, which means the organism undergoes 4 stages of egg, larvae, pupae and adults.

They can live for about 10 days without any food or water intake, which gives them a period to look for a new host when they first emerge from the soil.

The opening and human manipulation of the colony may release the captured beetles which increase the damage to the bee hive.

To deal with this counter strategy, honeybee workers developed the adaptation to remove the beetle’s eggs and larvae.

[19] Once SHBs get to this invasion stage, they can start the mass reproduction which leads to a completely structural collapse of the entire beehive.

[10] Under severe infestation situation, the host honeybee colonies might show an absconding and migration strategy where they would give up their nest and leave the left resources to the beetles.

[5] In a controlled laboratory setting, small hive beetles help spread Paenibacillus larvae, which is a bacteria causing the American foulbrood.

[19] Entomopathogenic fungi can function as a strong biopesticide for small hive beetles, such as Metarhizium and Beauveria.

[8] The ant Pheidole megacephala is the predator specifically to small hive beetle larvae in Kenya.

Competition may appear when other organisms occasionally share the food left within the honeybee colonies and other resources with small hive beetles.

[28] Two haplotypes found in US are proved to show different frequency in different areas, which might be the result of more than two separate introduction of the species into US, possible selection in different regions or the genetic bottleneck when beetle colonizers new sites.

[29] Copulation starts one week after the adults emerge from the soil and reaches the highest frequency after 18 days.

Most of the time, the male eventually ceases his action and either demonstrates non-social behavior or leaves the female.

[30] The primary damage to colonies and stored honey caused by the small hive beetle is through the feeding activity of the larvae.

Damage and fermentation cause honey to run out of combs, creating a mess in hives or extracting rooms.

[3] Heavy infestations cause bees to abscond; some beekeepers have reported the rapid collapse of even strong colonies.

[10] Soil infesting nematodes, parasitic wasps and ants can play a role in SHB control.

It is mixed with water and applied to the soil which can kill SHB larvae and pupae underneath the ground.

Life stages of small hive beetles
Larva
Comb slimed by hive beetle larvae. Hives infested at this level will drive out bee colonies.