Bees can’t catch a break
As if bees need another reason to look over their shoulders to see what wants to kill them next. Researchers have discovered another reason why the honey bee population are diminishing. Argentine ants carry a virus that attacks bees. The virus is identified to be actively reproducing in Argentine ants is a known threat to honeybees. Called deformed wing virus, it might use ants as a reservoir, spreading to bees visiting the same flowers or getting raided for honey by the sweets-loving ants. Deformed wing virus (DWV) is an RNA virus, one of 22 known viruses affecting the honey bee. The virus was first found in honeybees from Japan in the early 1980s and is currently distributed worldwide. It is named after what is usually the most obvious deformity it induces in the development of a honeybee pupa, which is shrunken and deformed wings, but other developmental deformities are often present.
http://www.delta-optimist.com/opinion/blogs/deltabc-1.983313/blog-bees-can-t-catch-a-break-1.2054944
