“The Silence of the Bees” incorporated
one tiny error. Hannah Nordhaus writes: “… microscopic
tracheal mites that set up shop in a honeybee’s feeding tube
and shorten its lifespan.”
I’m no honeybee
biologist, but I was trained as an entomologist.
“Tracheae” are the abdominal tubes that insects use to
breathe. So it’s more likely that the mites colonize the
tracheae, interfere with the insects’ ability to breathe, and
thereby shorten their lifespans.
David
Robertson
Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
Editor’s Note: We regret the
error.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Bee Anatomy 101.
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