<< V, mites are found in the breathing systems (trachea and spiracles)
of mature bees.>>>
Some misimformation here, David.  Varroa mites in Australia must be very
different from those in England.  Ours are much too big to enter the
spiracles. The largest spiracle in the bee is, at its widest, 0.14mm.  The
Varroa mite, at its smallest, is more than 1.0mm wide and long, some ten
times too big to enter. You are confusing Varroa with Acarine, two very
different mites.
Permit me to quote from a Ministry Pamphlet.
"Varroa is an external parasitic mite that lives exclusively on honeybees,
feeding from their blood (haemolymph).  To breed, the adult female mite
enters a brood cell shortly before the cell is capped, where she remains in
the brood food until the cell is sealed.  She then feeds on the developing
bee larva.  Mating between mite offspring (brother and sister) takes place
within the cell.  The male mite cannot survive once the bee emerges from the
cell; consequently all mature mites visible within the hive are female.
If given a choice mites prefer to breed in drone brood, yet they are well
suited to infest worker cells.
When brood rearing is restricted in winter the mites live on the bodies of
adult bees within the winter cluster, remaining there until brood rearing
commences in the spring.
During the summer , female mites may live for two to three months.  However,
during the winter or broodless periods they can live much longer, feeding on
adult bees.  Mites cannot survive without bees -for instance on combs and
equipment - for more than around two days."
As regards the last sentence I must say that I have kept mites in a test
tube and their legs have been kicking, albeit feebly, up to five days.
Many small beekeepers have asked recently about the risks of buying
second-hand equipment.  Clearly there is no danger from Varroa or Acarine
but every chance of something far more troublesome than these, namely AFB
and EFB, which can linger in old equipment for years.
Sid P.
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