John said:
 The estimated date varroa had jumped species to Apis mellifera in Russian
bees is less than hundred years, apx. 1963 to be exact.

Looking back on the research given to the world on varroa I can't see how
anyone can put an exact date on any of the research.

What we do know:
Oudemans was the first scientist to describe and name the mite in 1904
Varroa jacobsoni (of course Denis Anderson said a few short years ago the
mite causing all the fuss and being studied by the worlds best beekeeping
minds is NOT varroa jacobsoni as decribed by Oudemans)

We beekeepers are still chuckling about how for all these years  researchers
did not notice the obvious difference in shape of varroa jacobsoni and
varroa destructor.

I have told this story before and is in the archives but many  new members
might find the story interesting.

I read every piece of information I could find on varroa before arrival in
the U.S. I could not wait to attend the Missouri State beekeepers meeting
right after varroa introduction into the U.S. as the Missouri state bee
inspector had received varroa mites in alcohol from the USDA-ARS and was
displaying at our meeting under a microscope.

Joe had a big picture blow up of a varroa jacobsoni (round) but the varroa
under the microscope was  destructor (oblong).

I jokingly  told Joe there was a difference between the varroa under the
scope and the one in the picture. I said the USDA must have sent the wrong
sample to Joe! Red faced Joe said "they were the same and I should stop
always questioning things". I was only giving Joe a hard time but many
Missouri State beekeepers remember the incident and once pointed out the
difference was clearly evident!

After Denis Anderson made his varroa destructor discovery I went back and
found  a old varroa  article in the American Bee Journal.  I took the
article to a Midwestern bee meeting and we all had a good laugh. The article
had a frontal shot and a rear shot of varroa jacbsoni. One was varroa
jacobsoni and the other varroa destructor.

my only point  is too show how little we really know about varroa and its
arrival and not put down researchers!

Quote  from "The Varroa Handbook" pg. 6
" No one knows when the parasite came across its new victim, the European
bee Apis mellifera for the first time."


also reading further on page 6 :
" It is a useless excercise to delve into the historic details of its
migration. RUSSIA was  probabbly one of the first European countries to
suffer heavy losses"

Bob

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