It had to do with his claim that when the queen first start laying, the mites all go to the first brood cells that are layed up and end up killing the papau and thierselves. I have seen this in one other study and also read one today that said multiple mites in a brood cell impacted their reproductive rates
Excellent observation, I told Randy the same thing, and he questioned it, Turns out its patently wrong! Varro reproduction success INCREASES with multiple foundress mites, up to 7 if I recall. I am traveling, maybe randy can recall which paper that was???
Charles
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