The numbers of honeybees in the wild in North America are dropping quickly. The reasons being here in America we have harsh winters, soggy springs and two of the many terrible species of mites. According to an Ohio State University bee expert, “Honeybees in the wild are decimated,” said James E. Tew, an associate professor of entomology at Ohio State and honeybee research and development center (OARDC) in Wooster, Ohio.

When continuing his work Tew went on to say, "The harsh winter across the United States and the wet, messy spring, combined with all the routine problems facing bees that have never gone away -- bee diseases, pesticide problems -- pushed honeybees to the edge," Tew said. "The mites, however, were clearly and definitively the last straw in causing this population collapse." With all this being said there are still over many beekeepers that are trying to help maintain the bees’ population, yet they still run into problems; the microscopic tracheal and the larger varroa mite. These two have helped decrease the numbers of not only wild honeybees but domesticated bees as well.

Acarapis woodi (honeybee tracheal mite) is an internal parasite of honeybees. Tracheal mites are related to spiders and have eight legs. They live and reproduce in the trachea of honeybees. The female mite attaches five to seven eggs to the trachea walls, where the larvae hatch and develop in eleven to fifteen days into adults. The mites parasitize young bees up to two weeks old through the tracheal tube opening. There they pierce the tracheal tube walls with their mouthparts and feed on the haemolymph of the bees. More than a hundred mites can populate the trachea and weaken the bee. Varroa destructor is an external parasitic mite that attacks the honeybees apis cerana and apis mellifera. The disease is called Varroatosis. Varroa destructor can only reproduce in a honey bee colony. It attaches to the body of the bee and weakens the bee by sucking hemolymph. In this process, RNA viruses such as the deformed wing virus (DWV) spread to bees. A significant mite infestation will lead to the death of a honey bee colony, usually in the late autumn through early spring. The Varroa mite is the parasite with the most pronounced economic impact on the beekeeping industry.

The numbers of honeybees are quickly dropping; we have harsh weather climates here in North America, the Tracheal and Varroa mites are the main reason for their number loss and according to bee experts, honeybees in the wild are decimated. Honeybees are very important. They are America’s largest pollinator, and without them plants of all kinds could not grow