Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DISEASE & PEST CONTROL => Topic started by: beecanbee on August 24, 2009, 05:38:46 am
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Has anyone had a problem with the Death's-head Hawkmoth? Wiki has a good writeup.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%27s-head_Hawkmoth
Earlier this year I netted one and have it on cotton, and another was dead inside one of my hives, with the bees having a hard time attempting to get rid of it. Wiki suggests that it is there to consume a bit of honey and does not mention any other problems it might create. Blocking the hive entrance comes to mind, but any others?
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You have not had a response to your post, I think that there may be people that may have some experience here, but I am not sure.
I my area we have the Lesser Wax Moth. It can cause massive havoc in a hive that is not strong. It also can destroy a great deal of stored comb if the moth can get in to lay the eggs. I have seen the damage done by the lesser wax moth and it is not pretty. I had dealings with it this summer when I was going through some stored boxes with brood comb in it. I froze all the frames and have destroyed any further potential issues with this stored comb by storing the comb properly, my bad. I hope you get some answers, I think this is a big moth and can cause you a lot of grief with the colonies. Wait for responses, hopefully some will come. Have the most wonderful, awesome day, with great health. Cindi
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Thanks Cindi. Unlike the wax moth - this one seems to gain entrance in order to drink in some honey as nourishment, leaving no eggs and causing no damage, except that if discovered, it gets killed by the bees and then can block an entrance. Each season I find a few, or their body parts, in the hives and sometimes on the outside waiting to get in.
My guess is that most mellifera beeks on this site (mostly US based) have never encountered one.
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I don't think we have those, although I remember an article about people getting in trouble trying to smuggle some in.
I doubt that they cause much problems, other than a few honey cells worth of honey now and again.
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Paul, I was thinking of an old post made by one of our members, Abejaruco, he spoke of a moth that emitted a sound that froze the hive, this is the post, I looked it up, it was very interesting. Scadsobees made an interesting comment about the Deaths Head moth in a replying post. Interesting stuff. Have that most wonderfully great day, with great health. Cindi
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,11478.0.html
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Cindy, thanks for that.
I too have heard them squeal - but I am unsure if it is the same sound that purportedly freezes the bees to allow the moth her feeding. I have caught two live specimens – one on the outside of a hive body, and the other entrapped in anti-hornet netting – and both squealed for me.
My cerana researcher friend has camped out at night with his camera to capture the invasion – which is only at night, but suspected that the entrance was protected by mimicking queen pheromone, if I recall correctly. I’ll see him today and will ask again. He might try sound recording too.
I have removed many from within hives that were dismembered and depilated (and thus quite colorful) as the bees had discovered them, killed them, and were trying to remove them from the hive piece by piece. So I know that sound alone will not, or even with the assistance of pheromones too - guarantee their safety in the midst's of honeybees.
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I dont have a deaths head moth but I got this kind..They work the big flowers right alongside my bees!
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td>(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_btJlzM8u72Q/SlqZ5UeD1sI/AAAAAAAAE1E/LBDj4cpVIb4/s400/DSC_0069.JPG) (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/mS_XBu8h55ZVgoR1v4zgeg?feat=embedwebsite)</td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From moonflowers and bees and moths (http://picasaweb.google.com/Johnnybigfish/MoonflowersAndBeesAndMoths?feat=embedwebsite)</td></tr></table>
your friend,
john
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I too have heard them squeal - but I am unsure if it is the same sound that purportedly freezes the bees to allow the moth her feeding. I have caught two live specimens – one on the outside of a hive body, and the other entrapped in anti-hornet netting – and both squealed for me.
My cerana researcher friend has camped out at night with his camera to capture the invasion – which is only at night, but suspected that the entrance was protected by mimicking queen pheromone, if I recall correctly. I’ll see him today and will ask again. He might try sound recording too.
I have removed many from within hives that were dismembered and depilated (and thus quite colorful) as the bees had discovered them, killed them, and were trying to remove them from the hive piece by piece. So I know that sound alone will not, or even with the assistance of pheromones too - guarantee their safety in the midst's of honeybees.
Paul, I would like to hear more of this. What your researcher friend has found/sound recorded, anything. I have always had a deep fascination with the insect world (my young Nieces, Nephews, Grandsons can attest to this), I should be called Auntie/Grandma buggy girl, smiling. I should have studied entomology. I do study bugs, but only on the internet, I love to read stuff that interests me, smiling. Please elaborate when you have time about stuff that you know about this moth, would love to hear more (your experiences, etc.).
Johnnybigfish. What a beautiful picture. Many years ago, probably like about 10, I had massive amounts of beautiful dark red and dark pink shades of Sweet William growing in my gardens. One day I saw this huge moth type insect floating around, it resembled a hummingbird very much, and was of about the same size of the larger species of hummingbird -- that is why it caught my eye. This was during the daytime and I followed it with my videocamera in hand. Got some very lovely video of this magnificent critter. (The recording is on 8mm tape, and I really do need to get all those transposed over to DVD, one fine day, when I have some spare time, and yes, I say to myself: when will that ever be? (Maybe when we move and I have nothing to do, smiling). This moth never even bothered with trying to get away from me, I don't think it saw me. It was too involved in sticking its enormously long proboscis into the nectaries of the flowers. It really seemed to like the Sweet Williams. Thanks for that picture, have that most wonderfully beautiful and awesome day, to live with the best of great health. Cindi
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I asked my researcher friend about the Hawk-Moth – and he confirmed that indeed the moth’s squeak is very similar to a queen bee – when analyzed by use of an oscilloscope. When a recording of this sound is back-played within an observation hive – the reported “freezing” of the bees however is not observed. He said that the squeek that we had heard when we cought that live one, is indeed the same sound - so I have indeed heard it.
Additionally – I had thought that she emitted a queen pheromone – but he says no, but that instead when odors are compared scientifically (a German researcher's results), that the moth emits an odor that smells like worker bees.
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Johnny, yours is a cousin to the deaths head!
Speaking of the sound that freezes hives.... in my observation hive if I make a high-pitched howl/yodel sound, the bees will freeze for the duration of the sound. Really cool, I wonder if this is the same type of sound that the death-head hawk-moth uses.
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.... in my observation hive if I make a high-pitched howl/yodel sound, the bees will freeze for the duration of the sound.
Steve, what a picture you have conjured up in my mind, like that of a yodeller hangin' out on a Swiss mountaintop, smiling. I would love to see you in action, I bet you have a beautiful voice, smiling.
Paul, thanks for that information, that is so very ding, dang cool. Have that most awesomely great, most wonderful day, with great health. Cindi
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.... in my observation hive if I make a high-pitched howl/yodel sound, the bees will freeze for the duration of the sound.
Steve, what a picture you have conjured up in my mind, like that of a yodeller hangin' out on a Swiss mountaintop, smiling. I would love to see you in action, I bet you have a beautiful voice, smiling.
Rick, (Scadsobees), oh no!!!!! I was thinking about you and a horrible thought came to my mind. :( :( I called you by the name of Steve, you must accept my deepest apology from the very bottom of my heart. If you had read the prior post, you probably wondered who on earth I was talking about. So sorry...I know who you are, and I know your name. Sometimes things stick in my mind and when I was thinking of this post, I clearly recalled that I called you by a wrong name. I hope that no offense has been taken, just a little mind blip on my part and that does tend to happen to me, now and then :? :) Anyways, know this comes from deep within my soul. Have that great, most awesome day, with beautiful health. Cindi
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Oh boy, Cindi, now you've set me off. Steve, hmmph! I don't know if I'll ever get over this one! I'm so ding-dang mad that I just can't stop howl/yodelling! Those poor bees can't move a muscle!
Just kidding! You are forgiven, Sarah...er...I mean... Cindi! :-P
I could understand if you called me Mark, most people think that's my name for some reason, perhaps I look like a Mark.
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Oh Rick, you have brought that huge smile to my face, I know that you know that I know that you know that things are just plain and simply OK, smiling. Maybe I shouldn't have even mentioned that I called you Steve, you probably didn't even notice, smiling, but then, maybe you did and that would have sent you thinking for years about who in the heck was Steve. Have that most awesome day, beautiful days, great health. Cindi (Sarah, hee, hee)
PS. I don't think you look like a Mark, nor sound like a Mark, smiling