Dave from Scranton wrote:
 
>         In all the reading I've done about Varroa, it seems there's
> way
> too much brother-sister action going on to make them last very long as
>
> a
> species. Am I nuts or do they mate outside the primary cells that they
>
> come from in order to infuse some new genes into the next generation?
>
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> Dave D. Cawley, Maitre d' |
> The Internet Cafe         |
> Scranton, Pennsylvania    |
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 Dear Dave:
How are you doing today? Well I hope and perhaps somewhat cooler ( up in
the lovely mountain area of Penna.)  than what we have here in VA.  Even
the bees are
"panting."
  I thought that I would write a sentence or two relative to your
comment about bee mites.  It is precisely their ability to survive that
caught my attention 13 years ago.  Bee mites have been documented to
exist close to a hundred years in Asia.  Recent  reports from Europe
indicate that mites have developed resistance to chemical (pesticides)
treatments.  That's only possible through changes in their genes.  So,
yes, bee mites seem to have arrived at the stage of insurance of their
longevity unless humanity throws in a "monkey wrench" into their
reproductive machinery.
Best regards.
Dr. Rodriguez