The natural control of the tracheal mite of honey bees

The natural control of the tracheal mite, Acarapis woodi, of the honey bee depends greatly on good foraging opportunities for bee colonies and on limited competition between colonies. The severe, widely-publicised disease of bees, referred to as 'the Isle of Wight disease' in Britain early in the last century when colonies were more numerous than subsequently, was wrongly attributed to the mite, which causes no overt symptoms. The disease was almost certainly caused by bee paralysis virus, which does cause the symptoms and is independent of the mite, and which is similarly associated with large densities of bee colonies.