>
> >I am unclear at this point why varroa move into worker cells at all in A.
> mellifera when there is an abundance of drone comb


It appears that the entire varroa problem in European honey bees was due to
a mutation in a single mite that allowed her to ovulate in response to
worker larval pheromones.  Since the European honey bee did not exhibit the
strong hygienic response to varroa in worker brood that Apis cerana does,
this allowed the world varroa epidemic to begin.

In the recent Gottland island study on bees that have developed resistance
to varroa, they appear to have again suppressed the reproduction of varroa
in worker brood pheromonally.  Evolution appears to work!

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm