Donze (1996) found that nearly no spermatozoa were passed in the first mating; it takes two or more matings to reach the 30 spermatozoa stored in a female mite.
 

I will look for the Donze paper,  hadn’t seen the number 30 before!  Thanks.

If 30 is roughly correct  then with 6 mites per cycle being max(drones)  then she is potentially capable of as many as 5 cycles???



> No, I don’t believe the immigration issue explains it all.


Ah, I see the problem.  If you have a fixed belief system, so no sense in discussion any more--it would be a waste of our time.  If you wish to open your mind to other possibilities, I'd be happy to continue this discussion.


Not a fair or accurate assessment. If I wasn't open to it I wouldn't be digging.  Myself and many others have been continually experiencing a odd spike in numbers that has been explained away by most as mite bombs and or missed treatments. But when its 20 percent of your hives, and you're not in fluxed by outsiders,  the math doesn’t explain it all.  If we assume that the "treatment failed"  then it works.  And in the end it may not matter.  But I wonder, is that really the answer?  Given the fantastic efforts put forth to document it,  I would think that  trying to follow it would be valuable.  


Charles

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