Hi all
It has been known for a long time that mites are sensitive to chemical or odor cues in the hive. New research affirms this

> Honey bees and Varroa mites both depend on a myriad of chemical signals to communicate among their conspecifics and to sense the other species. Therefore, chemical communication is a good target for the development of new Varroa control tactics. Varroa mites have a specialized chemosensory organ on the forelegs, and bees have chemosensory structures (sensilla) on their antennae which they use to detect odors.

> Our recently discovered compounds 29 –31 [see text] could be released in a colony to get phoretic mites to move from nurses to foragers and, therefore, be carried away from the brood thus exposing the Varroa to grooming bees and/or to soft acaricidal agents (Eliash et al. 2014). One potential problem with this strategy could could be more drifting of mites riding on foragers between colonies in dense apiaries. 

Plettner, Erika, et al. "The chemical ecology of host-parasite interaction as a target of Varroa destructor control agents." Apidologie 48.1 (2017): 78-92.

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