''Locustacarus buchneri'' is a

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

that lives in the respiratory air sacs of

bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...

s. They are relatively host-specific and are found primarily in the subgenus ''Bombus sensu stricto''. Bees infested with the mite have a reduced lifespan in laboratory conditions, and although in one study they foraged at a rate similar to uninfected bees, infected bees showed a greater preference for a single flower type. Prevalence varies, but infection appears to be more common among commercial colonies than wild populations. Among colonies commercially imported from the Netherlands and Belgium to Japan, infestation rates were 20%. In South America, prevalence is very low in native populations. In Canada, there was evidence that commercial bumblebee populations were spreading ''L. buchneri'' to wild populations.

References

Trombidiformes Animals described in 1951 Parasites of bees {{Trombidiformes-stub