Hi Bob and Friends,
Nice friendly greeting, I like that!
Anyway, you wrote:
> The distance a mite is willing to travel is a very intriguing subject.
Yes, I've heard a number of different accounts, many from sources I would
not doubt. That is why I speculate that there must be something else in
play.
> I will gather a few live mites and put them in a 'crawling contest.'
I look forward to the results. I'll place my money on "Critter Gitter" in
the fourth!
> I think they would move a fair distance if they were hungry, but I don't
> know if the little buggars are inspired to move by hunger.
I don't know either. With respect to tracheal mites, films show they wait
to pounce even to the death! I am not positive if death was due to
starvation or desiccation. And I am not sure if similar studies have been
done regarding varroa.
> One thing for sure is, they have been very effective in moving all over
the
> world!
Undeniably, but not without help! One scenario that had escaped me but
seems quite plausible was put forth at the Federation of Irish Beekeepers
Association meeting last summer by Madeleine Pym's father (apologies to Mr.
Pym, I do not recall his first name - and Hi Madeleine, regards to your
dad!). Mr. Pym speculated that possibly varroa hops from place to place,
island to island, not on their own but with the help of others. Picture if
you will, a varroa mite on a bee, carried from an infested hive to a blossom
on a plant in a nursery. The mite falls off the foraging bee, lands on the
blossom and goes into the "lie in wait" mode. The nursery specimen is
loaded onto a ship and exported to a nearby island, which heretofore had
never been home to varroa mites. The plant and its stowaway mite are
quickly offloaded, an avid gardener purchases the plant, takes it home and
makes it a nice addition to the cottage garden. Imagine this all happens
within the life span of the mite and blossoming time of the plant. Another
foraging bee flies by, lands on the flower where the sinister mite lies in
wait, hops onto the bee and is brought back to a hive that had never been
prey to varroa! In such a scenario, the mite traveled less than a few
centimeters on "all eight", but covered many kilometers with a little help
from its friends.
Now, does it happen this way? I cannot say, but I do not doubt the
possibility. I had always assumed varroa spread with migratory beekeepers.
Until Mr. Pym put forth this proposition I had never considered the
possibility that varroa may have spread even when beehives were not
involved! The African small hive beetle is presumed to have arrived in the
US in a shipment of fruit!
> If the mites only move very short distances in a hive, how would the mites
> get into the drone frame cells from all of the other areas of the hive?
I speculate that mites move more actively within a hive where hosts abound
as compared to environs where hosts are scarce. As far as movement in the
hive, a speaker at Apimondia suggested that not only do the mites move
around in a hive, but the raised surface of a drone cell attracts mites in a
manner that is not yet understood. Possibly the higher cells attract the
mites, in which case a solid frame of drone may not be as attractive as one
might hope. Other thoughts (and I think this is more likely) is that the
drone brood smells differently and is more attractive to the mites. And
again, don't overlook the other vectors that move varroa mites around. The
mites could be hopping off nurse bees as they are feeding the drone brood.
Aaron Morris - thinking know the enemy, think like a mite!
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