Greater Wax Moth Larvae Can Complete Development on Paper Wasp Nest1

Abstract

Two wax moth species cause damage to honey bee combs: 1) the lesser wax moth, Achoria grisella (F.), and 2) the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). These species differ in appearance, biology, and life cycle (Ellis et al. 2013). Colonies infested with wax moths suffer damage to wax combs, prevention of adult bee emergence from cells, and increased tendencies of infested colonies to abscond (Ellis et al. 2013, Tsegaye et al. 2014). Therefore, various control methods for wax moths have been developed especially for stored combs. These methods include using paradichlorbenzene crystals (Burges 1978), and heat treatments (Charrière & Imdorf 1999). Recently, non-chemical traps to reduce damages from wax moths inside beehives have been developed (Abou-Shaara 2017). Also, sex pheromone traps (Sangramsinh et al. 2014) and light traps (Mabrouk & Mahbob 2015) can be used to trap wax moths outside the beehives. The known natural food for wax moths is beeswax. Beeswax from all Apis species is suitable for wax moth larval development, but the combs of Apis cerana (F.) and Apis dorsata (F.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) are the most preferable for female moth fecundity and larval growth (Swamy et al. 2009). Under laboratory conditions, wax moths can be reared using artificial diets prepared with different materials, e.g., yeast, glucose, and honey (Akbar et al. 2004), or other meridic materials such as wheat flour, corn flour, and milk powder (Singh et al. 2014). Wax moths can utilize different materials as food sources in laboratory settings. However, beeswax is believed to be the wax moth’s only food source in nature. Paper wasps (Polistes spp.; Hymenoptera: Vespidae) are able to build their nests at different, sometimes unexpected, locations, e.g., inside plastic bee feeders. A paper wasp nest is composed of composite fibers from plant stems, leaves and woods. Honey bees and paper wasps belong to the same taxonomic order (Hymenoptera), both are social insects, and have the ability to build nests. Moreover, some common genetic roots were found between honey bees and paper wasps (Toth et al. 2010). Spatial and evolutionary proximity between honey bee and paper wasp nests may allow the wax moth to utilize nests of social wasps other than those of honey bees. Indeed, Grabe (1942) reported on the utilization of wasp nests by G. mellonella. I