Ruary Rudd wrote:
 
>
> The absence of drones leading to a reduced mite population derives from the
> longer time that drone brood remains in the cell allowing at least one more
> varroa mite to mature per female varroa.
>
> Because it thus gives them a better increase in numbers, the mites have
> eveolved to selct drone brood in preference to worker brood.
>
> Because of this, the removal of the drone brood is a well known method of
> removing mites from the hive, the drone brood working as a trap. A search
> through the archives on " drone traps" would probably give a lot of
> information.
>
 
Hi All,
    Varroa has evolved to prefer drone brood because its natural host, apis
cerana, has the instinct to remove varroa from brood cells, especially worker
brood cells. During removal process the varroa my be dented and killed. Their
preference for drone cells gives them a better chance of survival since cerana
does not remove them from these cells as often as worker cells. IBRA has some
very good books that cover this.