This is the original report of finding three colonies with declines of
mite populations in a standardized 10 week test published almost to the
date 20 years ago. Growth of mite populations for the whole set of
colonies evaluated was associated with mite non reproduction. This led
to the use of the term SMR (suppressed mite reproduction) for this
resistance trait. Later, when the trait was found to be due to
selective hygienic removal of reproductive mites, it was renamed VSH.
https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/60500500/PDFFiles/301-400/341-Harbo--Honey%20Bees%20(Hymenoptera;%20Apidae).pdf
The original VSH population was started from these colonies, but the
population was not kept closed. The trait has been found and magnified
in a number of other populations using a similar process starting with
single drone inseminations. Search for Arista Foundation.
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