Allen Dick wrote

> I've heard that the mites can hide between the segments of the
> abdomen and be almost invisible.
>
> Is that true?  If there are phoretic mites, should I not be seeing them?

The literature told us that the varroa hides in the segments and here in
Australia we certainly used this information to good advantage.  We had a
case of bees, legally imported through our Quarantine Station, that had
varroa mites found on a couple of escorts.  They were in the segments.

Dr. Denis Anderson has said that when you think about varroa and their
natural hosts, Apis cerana, the varroa has to hide to survive.  The cerana
do have grooming behavior where they get rid of the mites.  He has also said
the difference in size between destructor and jacobsoni could have something
to do with the size of the cerana that they are specific to.  The size of
the space under the segments allows the varroa to hide and not be pulled
out.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA