Hi Peter:
Denis wrote "They are phoretic mites that are harmless to
Apis mellifera.  I cannot give the exact species without
looking at them closer, but these mites are common
throughout Asia.

Reply:
As varroa started out this way and then it's harmonious
relationship changed, which I will not go into as this is
water under the bridge now, but if these mites are common
throughout Asia and bees from foreign soils are now coming
into the USA for pollenation work........then it needs to
be spelled out for beekeepers since there are many mites in
the world, which are harmless and which are not as found in
todays beekeeping hives like the picture you showed here.

So question: How to ID them then to tell apart? I say this
because beekeepers see mites or what they think of a mites
and then want to use treatments which is bad if it is not
necessary and it is a harmless co-existance.........

Another scenario that comes to mind here is Braula
coeco....To the normal beekeeper's eyes the difference
between the harmless bee-louse and dangerous varroa is
small, - unless he/she has bery good eyesight. Very few
beekeepers eyees are sharp enought to tell the two apart -
never mind count the legs, and the two species will and are
confused unless magnified by a lens or microscope.

So could you please ask Denis how to tell apart, as I am
sure the matter will probably come up in the future and
beekeepers need to be propared so they can keep treatments
not necessary out of beehives due to increased
contamination worries worldwide.

Respectfully submitted,

Dee A. Lusby
Small Cell Commercial Beekeeper
Moyza, Arizona
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organicbeekeepers/


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