Hi Allen,

Research showed that varroa don't parasitize queens at the pupal
stage. Only one cell was infected out of few hundreds-one thousand of
queen cells. Even that single mite which entered the cell, did not lay eggs.
Varroa mites have the ability to recognize the queen pupae and stay
away from them. This can be explained by the post-capping period
of queens. This period is very short and does not allow mites to
develop. Therefore, mites developed their ability to stay away from
queen cells.

Medhat Nasr