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🪲 Small Hive Beetle: Layered Defence Lab

A 3D hive cutaway where you tune colony strength, in-hive beetle traps and bottom-board hygiene to see whether small hive beetle numbers stay below damaging levels.

Entomology & Insect Behaviour3DModerate60 FPS

A 3D hive cutaway showing why no single tactic beats small hive beetle alone — guard bees corner adult beetles, in-hive traps remove the fugitives, and a clean bottom board denies larvae the debris they need to breed.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

Beetle numbers, larval tunnels and comb damage all respond together to colony strength, trap count and hygiene — modelling the layered-defence logic UK biosecurity guidance recommends over any single control method.

🎮 How to Use

Raise colony strength to add patrolling guard bees, add traps to the bottom board, and improve hygiene to shrink debris pockets. Toggle the warm humid season to see breeding pressure spike, then watch the dashboard and comb damage respond.

💡 Did You Know?

Small hive beetle isn't established in the UK yet, but it has turned up — and been eradicated — in mainland Europe, which is why routine biosecurity and reporting matter even before the pest arrives.

⚙ Under the hood

A 3D hive cutaway where you tune colony strength, in-hive beetle traps and bottom-board hygiene to see whether small hive beetle numbers stay below damaging levels.

beeshivebeetlesinsectcolonyhoneyThree.js

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install