Bee-hives

The Wax moth Galleria mellonella and its devastating threat to Apiculture

Bee-keeping is an essential aspect of agriculture in every country since many plants require pollinization by bees during the flowering stage; this in addition to the valuable nutritive aspects of honey itself. Convertion of container for storage of hive supers

Larvae of the Wax moth Galleria mellonella and to a lesser extent, its smaller cousin Achroia grisella attack the honey combs during storage and can even damage the wooden frames in which they hang. In weak hives they may even attack the combs inside the hive. The devastating activity of these insects is known to bee-keepers the world over. If not kept under control, the economic success of the bee-keeper will be seriously jeapordised. Unfortunately only the large-scale bee-keepers can afford cold storage to preserve the supers (removable sections of the hive) during the winter season when hive activity is at a minimum, flowers are not available, and so the bees cannot collect nectar. Smaller enterprises must control the infestation as best they can using fumigants. Although ethylene dibromide provided a very effective answer, it has long been banned and its replacement phosphine is particularly ineffective when the storage rooms are not well sealed, and when fumigation is carried out during the cold of winter.
In developing countries control is attempted either by wrapping the empty combs with cellophane to prevent the entrance of the moths, or by treating the empty combs with sulfur and/or naphthalene balls. Both methods are relatively ineffective and furthermore the second method poses a potential health hazard.

Our solution to the problem has been developed with the cooperation of our friends from the Agricultural Extension Service of the Ministry, Yossi Slavetsky and Haim Ephrat, together with Dr. Boris Yakobson of the Veterinary Institute. The control treatment once again is by modified atmospheres. High carbon dioxide concentrations was the treatment of choice since gas supplies in cylinders can readily be transported to the storage site.
Our investigations have followed three lines of approach:

Laboratory studies to determine the sensitivies of various stages of the wax moth to high carbon dioxide concentrations.
Development and testing of appropriate treatment chambers made from flexible PVC liners, (in cooperation with Haogenplast).
Adaptation and testing of second-hand shipping Containers as fumigation chambers for the carbon dioxide treatments.

The results of our findings are available in the following publications

Navarro, S., Slavezky, Y., Yaacobson, B., Rindner Miriam and Azrieli, A. (1994). On the storage of honeycombs in a sealed plastic cover and control of wax moth using carbon dioxide. Yalkut Hamikveret No. 31, 23-25. (In Hebrew).

Donahaye, E.J., Navarro, S., Miriam Rindner and Azrieli, A. (1998). Sensitivity of the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella to carbon dioxide enriched modified atmospheres. p. 692-701 (Vol. I) (In) Proc. 7th Int. wkg. Conf. Stored-Product Protection, (Eds. Zuxun, J., Quan, L., Yongsheng, L., Xianchang, T., and Lianghua, G.) 14-19 October Beijing China.

Yakobson, B., Navarro, S., Donahaye, E.J., Azrieli, A., Slaveski, Y. and Ephrati, H.(1997) Control of beeswax moths using carbon dioxide in flexible plastic and metal structures. In: Proc. Int. Conf. Controlled Atmosphere and Fumigation in Grain Storages, 21- 26 April 1996, Nicosia, Cyprus pp. 169-174.