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Sent: Monday, April 02, 2001 3:21 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: Catch The Buzz Article



How a Varroa parts its hair may be one of the answers in control.
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Varroa Discoveries!


 A state-of-the-art scanning electron microscope mounting technique that
uses low temperature (LT-SEM) may help researchers better understand how
parasitic mites like Varroa interact with their bee hosts. Varroa mites feed
on the blood of adult and developing young bees. Parasitized bees may have
deformed wings and abdomens and a shorter life span than their unparasitized
hivemates. Because the LT-SEM freezes and captures the Varroa mites on bees
at the moment they are parasitizing them, a team of ARS scientists has
discovered some intriguing behavioral and morphological patterns. The
technique has shown that Varroa mites may be camouflaging themselves by
aligning their setae (their tiny hairs) with the hairs on the bee's body. By
doing this, they may escape detection when the bee grooms itself or is
groomed by another. If this hypothesis is correct, it may be possible to
breed bees that more easily detect mites and aid their removal from their
bodies. LT-SEM technology prov!
ides an exciting new tool that will be used to reveal the exact types and
behavior of mites. It is already providing valuable new information that
could be used to control mites as agricultural pests or to enhance their
efficacy as biological control agents.




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Kim Flottum
Editor, Bee Culture Magazine
http://www.airoot.com/beeculture/index.htm

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