Small Hive Beetles

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Small Hive Beetles

Small hive beetles were identified in 1998 and have become quite problematic in some regions of the United States.

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Small Hive Beetles (Runtime 0:47)

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Life Cycle and Damage

Adult small hive beetles are a little larger than lady bugs, or about a third as big as a worker bee. They are dark reddish-brown to black and covered with fine hair.

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Small hive beetles crawl on a hive.

Their cream-colored larvae eat voraciously after they hatch, consuming wax, pollen, bee eggs, and larvae. After 2 weeks of eating, they drop to the ground to pupate. Soil type is an important factor in the ability of the larvae to pupate successfully. Adults can fly, so they have no trouble finding new colonies in which to lay eggs and repeat the cycle.

Small hive beetles will infest weak colonies easily but have been known to destroy even strong colonies. Stored honey is especially vulnerable.

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Symptoms

Small hive beetles do not leave silk, webbing, or cocoons on the combs (like wax moths do), but are easily identified because when exposed to light, the adult beetles scurry across the combs looking for hiding places

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Diagnosis

Adult hive beetles compared to a worker bee:

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Hive beetle larvae consume and despoil the comb:

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Treatment

If this pest is identified, contact your state apiary inspector immediately. To reduce the threat of this pest, you should:

  • Maintain only strong, healthy colonies.
  • Extract honey as soon as it is removed from a hive.
  • Not leave drawn combs exposed.
  • Destroy beetles as soon as they are detected.
If small hive beetles are identified, contact your state apiary inspector immediately.

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