Adam Finkelstein <[log in to unmask]> wrote regarding
Funny looking bees!:
>
> Isn't deformed wings on worker bees a symptom of one of the many
> viruses Varroa has helped to increase in the bee population?
>
and he is correct.  It is not the varroa mites that cause deformed
wings, rather the viruses that varroa can vector.  Current thought in
learned circles is that viruses are ever present within a hive
environment.  It is the piercing mechanism of varroa through bees'
exoskeleton that has "helped" the viruses spread/thrive within a colony.
In anthropomorphic terms, it's kind of like junkies using dirty
needles.  The "nasties" are always around, it's the piercing that allows
them to infect a body.  An even better anology is fleas vectoring bubonic
plague.  It wasn't the fleas that caused the plague, they just vectored it.
 
In my original response I wrote:
> Deformed wings is an indicative symptom of PMS (parasitic mite
> syndrome) which can be caused by Varroa mites.
 
I should have written:
>           which can be vectored by Varroa mites.
                         --------
A subtle but important distinction.  Thanks Adam.  In the meantime, test
and treat if necessary.
 
Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee!