So, if not phoretic, then parasitic?  I suppose it was always understood to be parasitic while under the capping.  If the mites did not feed on the adult bee, the mite would then have only become phoretic after it emerged from the cell and attached to the adult.  However, the fact that the mites are feeding on the adult bees would mean that the relationship remains parasitic throughout the mite's life cycle and never merely phoretic?  Am I thinking of that correctly?  If so, it will take 100 years to work the word "phoretic" out of the lexicon of beekeepers.  Since I don't have that long, I might keep referring to them as phoretic while on the adult bees.  I will be wrong, but at least people will know what I am talking about.  

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