> How do you suggest the question you posed be answered
accurately?

Hmmnn ... tricky!  I can't think of an experiment to
conclusively demonstrate that VSH is or is not SC-hygiene
with the brakes off.  You might make inferences from asking
if the behaviours look the same. So ...

Are cells with mite eggs or youngsters targetted in both SC
and VSH, cells with only older daughter mites targetted
less, and cells with non-reproductive females ignored?

Do SC and VSH both show hygienic behaviour with the same
seasonal bias?

If you investigate VSH bees on naturally-drawn comb do you
see more effective uncapping in area of the comb with
smaller cells?

Any better ideas?

Gavin

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