It depends on how long ago the bees died. Relatively freshly killed bees can be diagnosed for TM in the field with basic (X10 magnification) magnifying glass. A slanting cork, twin needles and a fine tweezers are the other equipment required. After a while autolysis changes the colour of the body tissue to black fluid and the mites cannot be seen Ruary ----- Original Message ----- From: "D McKinney" <[log in to unmask]> > Can TM be easily detected in the dead bees found in the hive with the > proper lab equipment? ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************