Hello Peter & All,

Peter said:
Overkill?  Bees can be checked for acarine mites in the field quite easily -
just remove the head using your thumbnail behind the front legs.  A 10x hand
lens is then adequate to check the trachaea, although in my case I have such
poor eyesight that I can focus easily at 5-6" without glasses and have no
need of the lens.  There had to be some advantage to being short-sighted!

Not so fast Peter! I have done plenty of these myself in the field (with a
16 power lens) but I am looking for a black trachea and not the actual
mites. I later confirm my field diagnosis with the microscope.

I have done plenty of nosemia diagnosis in the filed and confirm later.

If Peter is only looking for the blackened trachea then I agree. If he is
seeing  the actual tracheal mites then we have got a problem here.

Bob

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