> Hygienic behavior is costly to the colony, because the trait requires that 
> a young larva or pupa be aborted and resources and labor associated with 
> tending the larva wasted as well as future work force eliminated.

True, and this is one reason not to be too fussy about brood patterns, 
because doing so may discrimnate against hygienic stock.

> The flaw, perhaps can be found in human behavior.  Breeders, as well as 
> the scientific community seem to be promoting the hygienic trait as the 
> only trait that exists for control of varroa.

Actually, whenever I hear the Baton Rouge folks talking about this, they 
list the known traits involved in varroa tolerance/resistance.  Then they 
tag them with the known heritability of the trait.

Then they target the traits which can be observed and selected, and also be 
passed on with some reliability.

The above is the simplified version of the process and thinking behind the 
effort. 

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