Paul Nicholson wrote:
 
> Is anyone investigating what stumuli varroa use to find bees, larvae and
> drone larvae?
>
> Perhaps there is a chemical achilles heel, a chemical or chemicals that
> tell them dinner is served.
 
Several years ago, when varroa just began to be a problem in Michigan, I
learned that drone larvae were particularly rich in linoleic acid
(C17H29COOH) and linolenic acid (C17H31COOH).  Dr. Roger Hoopingarner, then
the beekeeping specialist at Michigan State University, and I did a small
pilot study to see if we could attract and trap varroa with these substances,
but without success.  The several controls we utilized were indistinguishable
statistically from the test substances, so the work went no farther.
 
Ted Fischer
Dexter, Michigan USA