> So.... What were your findings? Did it seem to you that mites were feeding in the dorsal area of the abdomen of the bees you inspected?


The bees and mites had all been frozen and dead, so attempted dissection after thawing was messy. However, the only areas where the mites remained adherent were under the ventral abdominal plates as described and shown. None were tucked in on the dorsal abdomen. Two things were of interest to me:


1. This was an extremely healthy, productive hive with a mite count of 0 by alcohol wash in late August. The estimated mite prevalence for the hive was 15% on post mortem examination. I am now a believer in an additional mid-September mite count to identify any hives with late-season mite immigration.
2. Whereas I can't account for the number of bees with phoretic mites that just dropped off (which skews the observation) the fact that most bees that I found with mites had multiple mites suggests a propensity to harbor mites among certain phenotypes. What those phenotypes would be, I can't say. Another potential argument for diversity.


S


Skillman, NJ

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