>The mites reaction to sugar is interesting to watch. I have seen some leap
or jump off the bee as soon as the powdered sugar hits them. Others are
more unaffected but after a couple of minutes find the sugar comfortable
and fall off as they attempt to move. The most resistant are the mites
between the tergites. Yet, after 15 minutes almost no mites are left there
especially if the bees are smoked and run.

>From your observation, then would you suggest that a sugar shake bee assay
should be done over a fifteen minute period -- with intermittent shaking --
or do you think that three minutes should be sufficient?  Would the bees
perish after being coated with sugar that long?

The original BEE-L article is at
http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0008D&L=bee-l&P=R537

allen