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Date: | Mon, 27 Jul 2015 07:48:42 -0500 |
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That high proportion of very damaged mites seems rather unusual. The
background in unselected colonies is about 20% of fallen mites showing
some damage, and most are less damaged than that. If they are light
colored (translucent to yellow) they are young or immature mites, some
possibly removed by hygienic workers out of brood. If they are mostly
reddish brown, that suggests some kind of active removal/grooming of
adult mites off adult workers.
Looking at mite fall with some magnification can drive one crazy.
There are numerous possible combinations of various states: age
(ranging from light to dark brown), condition (dried to "plump"),
damage (ranging from a nick on an appendage to just the carpace), even
live vs. dead if the board is looked at right after removal from a
colony. Interpretation of what gives rise to these different stages
seems fairly speculative. Some have settled on just counting the
older mites and categorizing their damage to measure grooming. Other
recent papers use proportions of various conditions (such as ratios of
young mites/old mites) to gauge resistance via hygienic removal of
brood mites.
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