Adony Melathopoulos wrote:
 
> Having said that, I still wonder how resitance gets going in
>this strangely unique pest system beekeepers face (a possibly highly
>inbred pest which is seemingly adapted to nothing else but living
>off honey bees).
 
One thing to think about is that fluvalnate is a pyrethroid and as
such is similar to compounds produced by some plants.  Honey bees
feeding on pollen from such plants may well absorb some of these
compounds which the mites would be exposed to in feeding on the bees.
As an example there was an article this winter in American Bee
Journal reported that menthol ingested by honey bees was found in the
haemolymph fairly quickly.  Since many plants produce compounds to
reduce feeding by insects, varroa mites may be exposed to more
"unfriendly " compounds that we usually think and therefore need
enzymes to detoxify such materials.  Resistance to pesticides
therefore could arise by both mutation and selection for traits
already present in the population and the inbred nature of many
varroa populations may actually greatly speed up this process.
FWIW
blane
 
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Blane White
State Apiary Inspector
Minnesota Department of Agriculture
90 W Plato Blvd
St Paul, MN 55107
http://www.mda.state.mn.us
phone 612-296-0591
fax 612-296-7386
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