I gotta take off on a speaking engagement, but this would be a really informative simple experiment for someone with a steady hand and a dissecting microscope to do.  Anyone--email me if you're interested.


Okay  took that challenge last night.


First for the record as there seems to be some misconceptions about Varro and mobility.  Last year I did some testing for my research with Prof. Bromenshenk.  Proper care of Varro is a key to life and mobility.  They do not do well in light,  cool or dry.  For best life keep them in a cell incubator at 88 or so,  and very humid and dark.  Stored this way the mostly live about a week.  

Movement.  Varro are very mobile. If there is a reason to move.  Store them on comb and they are extremely mobile  often traveling a  small square of comb (2 inch squares) several times before settling down.  I would say the average is about 1 foot  before they seem to settle down,  but if a bee walks close or they can hear buzzing (caged drones) they become a bit more mobile again.  Average rate of sped was about 1 inch a minute,  but one in a hurry can travel 1 inch in about 8 seconds.   They are every bit as mobile as ticks, to think otherwise is not correct.  And even on a bee,  they move constantly around the bee.

Took Randys challenge last night,  although I don't yet see the value other than killing time. (more on this in a moment)   So hunted mites...  First 3 hives (queen breeders right next to the door)  yielded nothing!  Checked 3 frames in each and well over 100 drones,  not a dang mite.   Since this have not been treated or checked since last NOV,  I was pleased!   But  bragging aside,  I found a cutout swarm that had a few.

Mite (phoretic on a worker) was take in the house on a live bee.(partially killed)  toyed with it in the microscope and watched as it raced around the bee like a monkey on speed.  Finally decided to glue it to my dissection tool.  Tried superglue,  but it dried to quick in tiny dots.  Switched to elmers.  Very hard to get a tiny drop of elmers to dry quick enough,  but with some finesse I finally got the mite clued to the end of the pointer. His whole back was in contact but none of the critical parts touched glue.( mouth or anything)

Flipped him over and mounted the tool and watched for a while very actively trying to touch something. took about 20 min before it settled down.  I headed out and got some OA from the truck,  still pondering what I was even seeing.  The feet of the mite had these wet spots on the ends that I originally thought were wax cuticles from the bee.  I was pondering there effects.  

But got some OA  and while walking back was pondering particle size.  As expected when viewed under the scope,  the particles were pretty large.  I "handed" some to the mite.  It proceeded to roll them around like a NBA star with a basketball.  It should be noted particle size varied,  but all were large.  Relationship wise the small ones were like a volleyball to a mans hands,  larger were closer to a small beachball. None were tiny to the mite.  He quickly rolled the particles around in her feet.  Over and over,  never showing any sign of pain or issues.

Here I should note the feet of the mite,  not claws or tarsal claws as we discussed,  but wet sloppy feet.  Imagine a pair of those big yellow fuzzy Gloves soaking wet.  When contact was made they spread out like a wet suction cup,  over and over.  Molecular adhesion was in effect,  much like a bees foot on glass.  


After about 5 min of watching I noticed the legs starting to twitch,  much like a Parkinson's patient. Random,  seemingly loss of muscle control.    The mite was still alive at 11pm when I went to bed,  although  It had escaped the glue,  seems the glue never really attached,  and as soon as I touched it with the tweezer to take away its OA ball,  it flipped over with zero damage from the glue.

This morning it was dead,  insides seemingly degraded. (need comparisions)  In fairness it was cool and dry in the dining room.  I was not ready to do a large scale real test.


I  pondered several things,  first,  Vaporized OA would leave much smaller particles everywhere.  So more contact would occur.   Secondly  I am surmising that OA is breaking down from the moisture in the mites feet,  and possibly absorbing Formic  into the mite itself??  Maybe the reason a hurmenctant helps with dribble?? The sugar may get tasted making the mite handle it longer?? Just a thought.

Charles

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