author(s)
Asma Rouibi, Wided-Fella Bouchema, Wahida Loucif-Ayad, Mohamed Achou, Noureddine Soltani

abstract
The ectoparasitic mite Varroarndestructor ^[1] (Acari, Varroidae) is one of the most seriousrnpests of honey bees Apis mellifera L., (Hymenoptera, Apidae) worldwide.rnIt has being linked with the death of millions of colonies and severalrnacaricides are used by beekeepers to control V. destructor. Thernobjective of the present study was to determine possible negative effects ofrntwo acaricides fluvalinate, a synthetic compound, and oxalic acid, a naturalrnsubstance by measuring acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and glutathionernS-transferases (GSTs) activities in newly emerged workers bees, nurses andrnforagers of A. mellifera intermissa. Two groups of five hives each wererntreated with these acaricides and one group was left as control. Data showed that fluvalinaternled to increase GST activity and decrease AChE activity in emerged and nursernbees as compared to controls. In the forager bees, the enzymatic activitiesrnwere similar in all groups of honey bees. However, oxalic acid has no significant effect on AChE and GST activities in the emerged, nurse and forager bees.