Varroa destructor Mites Can Nimbly Climb from Flowers onto Foraging Honey
Bees
Anyone who has worked with Varro at all could tell you this is extremely
possible. They can live for a few days, and move very well traveling
several feet is not a surprise. The questions, would they survive very
long on a flower? And what would cause them to do that.
Entirely possible to "fall off" while a forage was visiting or gathering
pollen, but would they survive in sunlight and weather long enough to catch
another host? I suspect that probability is low.
Mite work just like ticks, ticks climb plant stems to catch a passing host.
Mites climb comb structures for the same reason.
Charles
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html