A survey on prevalence rate of Nosema cerana, Acarapis woodi, Varroa jakobsoni and Meloe variegatus in apiaries of Ardabil province on 2013-2016 abattoirs

The parasitic mites of honey bees (Varroa spp., Acarapis spp.) and obligate intracellular parasite of honey bees (Nosema spp.) are responsible for heavy losses in honeybee hives, colonies and are major threat to the beekeeping industry. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of parasites of honey bees in ten regions of Ardabil province. A total number of 315 apiaries (62700 hives) were randomly sampled in different seasons from 2014 to 2016 in Ardabil province, Iran. Overall 290 apiaries (92.06 %) were identified as infested with at least one of the parasites. The prevalence of parasites found were: Nosema cerana (92.06%), Acarapis woodi (4.76%), Varroa jakobsoni (19.68%) and Meloe variegatus (1.90%). The relationship between parasitic infection and the years was not significant, but the infection of Nosoma cerana in different years was significantly higher than other parasites. The highest prevalence rate of the Nosema cerana was observed in the spring. According to the findings, Nosema ceranae was the only parasite in honeybees with a broad geographical dispersion in Iran. It seems that climate can influence the prevalence of mentioned parasite.