Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Whole live micro-organism – cell – or virus containing – Fungus
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-19
2001-08-21
Naff, David M. (Department: 1651)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Whole live micro-organism, cell, or virus containing
Fungus
C424S405000, C435S254100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06277371
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the treatment of honeybees against parasitic mites by the use of a fungus and in the form of dust, wetable powder, liquid, or any other means of transfer of the active ingredient into the brood nest of beehives.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known that honeybees, Apis Mellifera, may be plagued by parasitic mites and in particular by Varroa mites, Varroa Jacobsoni. The parasite feeds from the bees blood after attaching itself firmly to the body. A large shield-like hard casing protects the Varroa's vulnerable underside. Once attached, the parasite is virtually untouchable within the bee hive environment. Once inside the hive, other bees are quickly affected. Blood loss leads to lethargy, and with a decline in worker bees collecting pollen, the honey output declines. The hive itself can be completely wiped out in some cases within a few months. Conventionally, control of such parasitic mites in bee hives has been by mechanical evaporative distribution of formic acid, or by the use of pesticides such as Apistan™ (active ingredient Fluvalinate) or Taktivar™ (active ingredient Armitraz). The formic acid method of control of parasitic mites is typically laborious, requiring repeated maintenance and replenishment. The pesticide method of control of parasitic mites results in the mites building up a resistance to such pesticides, reducing their effectiveness.
Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to provide for the treatment of honeybees against Varroa mites by the use of a biological control namely the use of the acarine parasite
Hirsutella thompsonii.
Commercially,
Hirsutella thompsonii
may be found as the active ingredient of a mycoacaricide, at one time produced under the trade-marks Mycar™ and, earlier, ABG6065, by Abbott Laboratories of North Chicago, Ill., U.S.A. As reported by McCoy and Couch in their publication entitled “Microbial Control of the Citrus Rust Mite with the Mycoacaricide, Mycar®” (the Florida Entomologist, Volume 65, Number 1, March 1982), Mycar™ as a wetable powder or dust was effective in stimulating premature fungal epizootics in citrus rust mite,
Phyllocoptruta oleivora
, populations in Valencia orange groves in central and south Florida.
Hirsutella thompsonii
, the active ingredient of Mycar™, was established on treated fruit and foliage via the particulate residue which supplied a substrate for mycelial growth and subsequent conidiogensis by the fungus. McCoy reported excellent crop protection was achieved with Mycar™ and a Mycar-oil combination in field trials.
McCoy and O'Donnell in their publication “Taxonomy of the Acarine Parasite
Hirsutella thompsonii
” (Mycologia, Volume LXXII, No. 2, pages 359-377, March-April, 1980) report that
Hirsutella thompsonii
is an important fungal pathogen of the citrus rust mite and other eriophyoid mites and that
Hirsutella thompsonii
appears to be a specific pathogen of various species of Acari which inhabit a wide range of plants throughout the world. These are plant mites, not mites on living organisms. The prior art does not report finding these mites on living organisms.
Gerson et al report (“
Hirsutella thompsonii
, a fungal pathogen of mites” Appl Biol (1979), 91, 29-40) that plant feeding mites are susceptible to
Hirsutella thompsonii
but that other mite orders were not infected by Hirsutella Thompsonii suggesting specificity of this fungus for one mite order—the Prostigmata.
What is neither taught nor suggested in the prior art and which is the subject of the present invention, is that
Hirsutella thompsonii
in the form of dust, wetable powder, liquid, or other carrying transfer media, may be used against mites on living organisms, specifically mites on honeybees, for example, by being applied into the honeybee's brood nest or food supply, and when so applied acts as a pathogen against a living organism, in particular, the Varroa mite which feeds on other living organisms, i.e. honeybees, rather than against other mites which feeds on plants and fruit.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In summary, in the present invention the method of treating an infestation of Varroa mites in a honeybee colony includes the steps of:
(a) mixing a culture of Hirsutella Thompsonii fungus with a spreadable carrier media so as to form a carrier suspension; and,
(b) dispersing the carrier suspension into a honeybee brood.
The carrier media may be a fluid such as water wherein, in one method of the present invention,
Hirsutella thompsonii
is mixed with the water into a concentration of approximately 5 million spores of
Hirsutella thompsonii
per milliliter of water.
The carrier media may also be a dust or a wetable powder. The fungus is grown on a growing media such as soya flour or wheat bran or the like. The resulting culture and growing media are dried and ground into a dust or wetable powder containing a concentration of the fungus approximately or exceeding 8×10
5
spores per gram of the carrier suspension.
The step of dispersing the carrier suspension delivers the spores to each honeybee hive being treated.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4752468 (1988-06-01), Kennedy et al.
patent: 5227162 (1993-07-01), Ferrari
Leszczynski et al., Ochr. Rosl. (29, No. 5, 5-9,), 1985.*
“Hirsutella thompsonii, a fungal pathogen of mites. II. Host-pathogen interactions”, By U. Gerson, R. Kenneth and T. I. Muttath,Ann. appl. Biol.(1079), 91, 29-40.
“Microbial control of the Citrus Rust Mite with the Mycoacaricide, Mycar®”, C. W. McCoy and T. L. Couch., Reprinted from theFlorida Entomologist, vol. 65, No. 1, Mar. 1982.
“Tazonomy of the Acarine ParasiteNirsutella Thompsonii”, Robert A. Samson and Kerry L. O'Donell., Reprinted fromMycologia, vol. LXXII, No. 2, pp. 359-377, Mar.-Apr., 1980.
Haragsim Oldrich
Ruzicka Vaclav
Meller Mike
Naff David M.
Reid John S.
Reidlaw, L.L.C.
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