The most compelling talk I heard at the ABRC meeting in Galveston was by Samuel Ramsey of Dennis's lab. I have not been able to find full text of his work (anyone have a link?) but in a nutshell he found that varroa feed primarily on fat body and not hemolymph as we, or at least I, had been taught since the beginning. He had compelling photos and analysis making his case of phoretic mites feeding on fat body of adults and from the photo it is clear that the amount of fat consumed would have little effect on an adult bee but surely infect the bee with viruses.  In a brief personal conversation afterwards he said that while the fat body in larva and pupa are less well defined he found that the developing mites also feed primarily on fat not hemolymph. Another amazing photo was the size of the mite egg as compared to the mother. It were as if a chicken egg were the size of a basketball. And she lays one every 30 hr. or so, something that must require enormous energy reserve. 

The question I have for the scientist, chemists and biologists on this list is what new avenue of attack might come from this. We are just having a discussion so wild speculation is welcome. Fat soluble agents? birth control? new traps?

Paul Hosticka
Dayton WA

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