A bit more- the mite drop is from grooming as well as bees spotting mites
and biting them. Part of the research that Greg Hunt is doing is to try and
see which bees are better at spotting Varroa and biting them. He sets a mite
free and observes the bees response. Some are better than others, so they
are trying to develop the ones that react quickly and "groom".

The bees he is working with are VHSB and they are open mated. So if he can
maintain the grooming characteristics with open mating, you will have a very
good bee.

If I recall correctly, he noted that VHSB is the new name for SMR
(Suppressed Mite Reproduction) in that what they thought was going on was
not mite reproduction suppression but the hygienic behavior of the bee,
hence the new name which defines what is happening more accurately.

He also spoke about the honeybee genome as well as Varroa genome projects.
Also, the honeybee colony health website. I will cover those in another
post.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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