Use of costic acid, a natural extract from Dittrichia viscosa, for the control of Varroa destructor, a parasite of the European honey bee

• Kalliopi Sofou,
• Demosthenis Isaakidis,
• Apostolos Spyros,
• Anita Büttner,
• Athanassios Giannis and
• Haralambos E. Katerinopoulos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 952–959, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.96

• recent address: Department of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, TU Dresden, 01062, Dresden, Germany 10.3762/bjoc.13.96 Abstract Costic acid has been isolated from the plant Dittrichia viscosa and its efficacy against Varroa destructor, a parasite of Apis mellifera, the European honey bee, has been studied

• efficient agent for controlling varroosis in honey bee colonies. Keywords: Apis mellifera; Dittrichia viscosa; natural products; Varroa destructor; varroosis; Introduction The honey bee ectoparasite Varroa destructor (Anderson & Trueman) was discovered by Oudemans in 1904 [1]. The mite was located on the

• feeding place for bee colonies, and beekeeping has been a profitable practice of the local population since ancient years. Dittrichia viscosa (L.) W. Greuter (syn. Inula viscosa (L.) Aiton), an invading ruderal species of the Asteraceae family [29], is a herbaceous perennial plant which is widespread in