>it would seem logical to me that some times mites are on bees and sometimes not. lots of grafting with a magnifying glass and light informs me that the mites do move around quite a bit off the bees and over the face of a comb and quite frequently. you may have no evidence but my eyes and experience does inform me they do move around without the aid of a honeybee.


Ditto,  I see them a lot on brood comb with just normal inspection.   I suspect beekeepers eyes are the main reason we think this is untrue.  We also know the relatives (ticks) are quite adept at moving around very well.    How big a factor?  Unknown,  but it seems unlikely to me that the only mode of transference is to climb from bee to bee to find the nurse bee headed to just the right cell.   That’s giving a mite  abilities a howler monkey would envy.  I suspect they get close and walk the last bit  a lot more than we think.




Charles

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