ArticleScientific reports2018
Lithium chloride effectively kills the honey bee parasite Varroa destructor by a systemic mode of action.
Article in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 22 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Review
- Effects of lithium chloride on queen egg-laying performance and worker honey bee behavior.Pest management science · 2026Article
- Behavioral and molecular disruptions in honey bees induced by lithium chloride exposure.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Lithium-Occurrence and Exposure-A Review.Toxics · 2025Review
- Article
- Lactic acid treatment on infested honey bees works through a local way of action against Varroa destructor.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Deleterious effect of LiCl on honeybee (Aphis mellifera) grubs and no effect on Varroa mites (Varroa destructor) under normal beekeeping management.Biologia futura · 2024Article
- Lithium chloride treatments in free flying honey bee colonies: efficacy, brood survival, and within-colony distribution.Parasitology research · 2023Article
- Effects of lithium on locomotor activity and circadian rhythm of honey bees.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Influence of virus abundances in donor colonies and nurse hives on queens ofOpen veterinary journal · 2023Article
- Efficacy of In Vitro Lithium Chloride Treatments onInsects · 2023Article
- Article
- Comparison of Alternative Application Methods for Anti-Insects · 2022Article
- Frontiers in effective control of problem parasites in beekeeping.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2022Article
- Contact varroacidal efficacy of lithium citrate and its influence on viral loads, immune parameters and oxidative stress of honey bees in a field experiment.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Review
- Integrated Pest Management Control of Varroa destructor (Acari: Varroidae), the Most Damaging Pest of (Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae)) Colonies.Journal of insect science (Online) · 2021Review
- Article
- Evaluation of potential miticide toxicity to Varroa destructor and honey bees, Apis mellifera, under laboratory conditions.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Varroa destructor: how does it harm Apis mellifera honey bees and what can be done about it?Emerging topics in life sciences · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Honey bees are increasingly important in the pollination of crops and wild plants. Recent reports of the weakening and periodical high losses of managed honey bee colonies have alarmed beekeeper, farmers and scientists. Infestations with the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor in combination with its associated viruses have been identified as a crucial driver of these health problems. Although yearly treatments are required to prevent collapses of honey bee colonies, the number of effective acaricides is small and no new active compounds have been registered in the past 25 years. RNAi-based methods were proposed recently as a promising new tool. However, the application of these methods according to published protocols has led to a surprising discovery. Here, we show that the lithium chloride that was used to precipitate RNA and other lithium compounds is highly effective at killing Varroa mites when fed to host bees at low millimolar concentrations. Experiments with caged bees and brood-free artificial swarms consisting of a queen and several thousand bees clearly demonstrate the potential of lithium as miticidal agent with good tolerability in worker bees providing a promising basis for the development of an effective and easy-to-apply control method for mite treatment.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.