adony melathopoulos wrote:
Dear Friends:
I would like to add a couple of sentences to this subject from my
personal observations of our "bee public enemy," (my characterization).
The more that I study the behavior of bee mites the more amazed I become
at their ability to utilize the bee colony environemnt to their
advantage.
     In assaying the potential threat that Varroa offers to honey bees,
we have to take into consideration several factors.  For instance, bee
mites have a very short life cycle, 12 days for tracheal bee mites and
18 days for Varroa mites.  It takes any given bee mite a maximum of 28
days to enter a drone cell and its offspring to return to the surface to
begin its ectoparasitic form (to me the most damaging stage).  Supposing
that nothing impedes their return to the larvae to renew their
reproductive cycle, they will accomplish their "mission" playing havoc
on their host and are promising to do it time and again in greater
numbers until the colony perishes.
     My 13 + years working with Varroa mites have taught me one thing
for sure.   And that is that bee mites have a tremendous capacity to
adapt to their environment and to their hosts.  IMO, we have a lot to
learn about bee mites.
Best regards.
Dr. Rodriguez