Ok, question?  The notion that Tracheal mites prefer young adult bees as
hosts has been projected many times.  Our model says that the mite has to
be choosey in the spring and summer, otherwise the host is apt to die
before the progeny of the foundress female can mature, mate, and move to
a new host.  Pick an older bee and your host will die before the mites
can get through a life cycle.  Want to control mites, shorten the bee's
lifespan just a tad.
 
Ok, but what happens in the fall and winter, particularly in northern
climates.  Are all of those mites in an old bee simply second generation
progeny (staying in the same host), or do mites transfer to older hosts
(become less picky at this time of year)?  I don't know and can't say I
have seen any hard data on this one.  Pettis has evidence of more than
one generation of mites in the same host.
 
How about all those mites in the other tracheae, where did they come
from?  Same host, another host, some of both?
 
Makes a difference in the population modeling efforts.
 
Anybody have any good evidence for this, one way or the other?
 
Cheers
 
Jerry Bromenshenk
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