The frames are provided with a honeycomb texture for bees to build their wax cells on.

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The pests that honey-bees bite include varroa mites as well as wax moth larvae.

BBC: Honey-bees found to have bite that stuns

"The potential implications of this new research for honey-bees and their interactions with varroa mites and wax moth larvae will need to be looked at in more detail, but the initial results look really interesting, " said Giles Budge, senior researcher with the UK's National Bee Unit.

BBC: Honey-bees found to have bite that stuns

Dr Papachristoforou recovered wax moth larvae that had been ejected from a hive, assuming the bees had killed them.

BBC: Honey-bees found to have bite that stuns