Pseudoscorpion Relationship to Arthropods within Honeybee Colonies

Many species of insects are known to live inside the nest of honeybee. Pseudoscorpions that live inside the colonies of honeybee are melittophilic. The pseudoscorpion, Ellingsenius indicus Chamberlin 1932, associated with Asian honeybee, Apis cerana Fabricius 1793, has been observed by many beekeepers and researchers. The present research is to characterize pseudoscorpions' general biology and their role in honeybee colonies, to elucidate their diet preference in honeybee colonies. Beehive observation were made in the Kavrae, Kusadevi (N27¿33¿33.2¿ E85¿27¿42.0¿, 1898m) and inside the Kathmandu valley (N27¿35¿55.6¿-N27¿44¿63.9" E85¿22¿45.3¿-E85¿19¿39.0¿, 1303m-1499m) during the month of March, April and May 2010. 53 honeybee colonies were investigated during the field work. Pseudoscorpions were collected from hives along with other micro-arthropods from selected honeybee colonies. Pseudoscorpions were introduced into the microcells and their feeding habits were investigated. The other behavioral patterns of the pseudoscorpoions were observed in the observation glass-hive.