On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 11:36 AM, Charles Linder <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>
>
> Is it possible that mites also can do this?... It it possible though that
> they can also somehow determine which bee to ride,  to another hive  or at
> the least which hive to get off into to breed???
> We also know that some pheromones are attractants to mites,  so it seems
> possible they may be picking and choosing more than we think?  Maybe they
> jump off on a flower and wait for the next bee?


  Lots of thought provoking questions.
   One of the early hypotheses about how varroa get around was that they
transferred via flowers.  There are some triungulin Meloid larvae that do
this on Bombus.  Isn't it BQCV that Bombus has been picking up from flowers
visited by honey bees infected with it? So maybe the mites do hop off and
do a Chinese fire drill on the flowers.
   Varroa could easily be sensing a decrease in brood pheromone, which
might trigger dispersal behavior.  The simplest thing would be to just hang
onto the drone you developed on and ride to another hive. Drones are
notorius drifters.
   Resident varroa might also sense something about a robbing incident that
causes them to jump onto foreign bees.
   It's not uncommon for a parasite to change the behavior of its host to
the parasite's benefit.  I'm thinking of horsehair worms that cause their
grasshopper hosts to jump in the water.  Perhaps varroa, sensing their host
colony's impending doom, can change the behavior of the workers so that
they're more likely to drift.
   Just thoughts.
Cheers,
Kristina Williams
Boulder, CO

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