Aaron writes:
>Now it's been passed on that some have asserted it might be as
>simple as a matter of chance based on length of time a cell is
>uncapped; the longer the barn door is open the more likely it is
>that the horse will leave (or in this case enter). Interesting
>assertion and certainly a more simple explanation (Occam's Razor!).
>
>Based on the assertions and observations posted in the past few days
>I must back off my assertion that Varroa will not be found in queen
>cells.

Right. I have no more info to give on this topic (sorry) but I think
it is worthwhile to question whether the varroa mite uses cues to
differentiate between cells. I am not saying that they couldn't but
that they might not. It might just be probability like we have said.
Another *possibility* could be that drone cells receive much less
attention than other cells, queen cells being attended to the most. I
would suppose that if a cell was visited often, the bees *could*
remove any mites in there.

By the way, I have seen Tom Seeley's lab and he uses slow motion
video tapes to study bee behavior. I think we could learn a lot if a
mite infested hive was video taped and we actually observed the
interaction between bees and mites. Then we would know if bees remove
mites from cells, or each other, and we might see them biting them.
It is interesting to consider that mites seem to build up very fast
in large hives during summer -- perhaps the housekeeping activities
are neglected during this time since so much attention must be
diverted to other tasks. We all know that bees are more diligent in
protecting the nest at certain times than others.

On the odor trials, again -- just because certain odors attract or
repel, it does not necessarily follow that mites "use" these odors as
cues, or are even aware of them in the environment of a beehive
(which is obviously a highly odorific place!). Be that as it may, I
certainly hope along with the rest that some kind of an odor based
trap or repellent could be devised, regardless of its scientific
basis.

On another note, one must be very careful when invoking evolution as
a mechanism. I often hear that such and such a species "evolved" to a
certain point -- "mites evolved to reproduce in drone cells".
Evolution, adaptation and resistance are very complicated  processes
and difficult to prove. One must give equal attention to such things
as *chance* and *opportunism*.
--

pb

http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/plb6/