a randy oliver snip followed by my comment or question...

Bill, I haven't seen evidence to support the above claim.  It appears to be
rare for a mite outside of the cell to not be on a bee at all times.  Thus
your hypothesis that phoretic mites are crawling over the OA-exposed comb
surfaces is questionable.

>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.

although you reduce varroa biology to a ratio related to brood in the hive most often in looking at other biological specimens (cows, pigs, dogs) I find some level of nutrition is the actual causal agent.  I guess what I am suggesting here is your ratio MAY BE more in line with a correlation and not the cause.

Gene in central Texas   

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