Management of mite (Carpoglyphus sp.) in Stingless Bee colony

Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) are largest group of eusocial bees on Earth. In this study, two non-chemical compounds viz., thymol and formic acid, were tested against mite and stingless bee. The present study revealed that thymol was highly toxic to the mite at 24 hrs with a LC50 of 874.68 ppm, whereas formic acid presented a lower toxicity with LC50 of 10474.36 ppm. Thymol was found more are less equally toxic for mites and stingless bees. However formic acid was found to be safer to stingless bees and thus formic acid may be used in the mite control.