40 years ago, Dave de Jong was the first to notice failure of mites to reproduce in some strains of bees:

In West Germany in an average of 24% of the examined infested worker cells there was no reproduction. In Turkey we found in highly infested colonies nearly the same amount. But in tropical Brazil the proportion was much higher, an average of 57%. 

The differences observed in the reproduction of the Varroa mite in worker and drone brood in tropical Brazil versus West Germany are large enough to explain lower mite populations in honey bee colonies in tropical South America.

Ritter, W., & Jong, D. D. (1984). Reproduction of Varroa jacobsoni O. in Europe, the middle East and tropical South America. Zeitschrift für angewandte Entomologie, 98(1‐5), 55-57.

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