On 29-Oct-15, at 10:50 AM, randy oliver wrote:
>>
>
>> Does this suggest that they gather in one area in order to reduce
>> brother/sister
> mating?
>
> Perhaps what you are suggesting is that females seek already
> infested cells
> in order to allow for cross fertilization of unrelated males and
> females.
> This is a reasonable hypothesis, as it would appear to be to the
> evolutionary advantage to the mites. However, I haven't seen any
> finding
> suggesting that the presence of a foundress is either attractive or
> repellent to subsequent mite invasion.
>
Hi All
These last 2 paragraphs are new to me and make so much sense. I have
always thought that it should be easy to find a treatment that works
because the mating is always brother to sister. If several(more than
one) foundress mites enter a cell the offspring have a good chance of
being genetically different than their parents.
Therefore the practice of drone brood removal using pierco drone
frames may be far more important than I previously thought.
Bob Darrell
Caledon Ontario
Canada
44N80W
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