Peter Edwards asked about mites seen on A.mellifera in India that were not V.destructor, and pictured in the following link. 
http://www.stratfordbeekeepers.homecall.co.uk/asianmites.jpg
I forwarded the info to Dr Denis Anderson at CSIRO in Canberra who is THE expert on honeybee mites and who was responsible for identifying the Varroa destructor as a unique haplotype separate from Varroa jacobsonii, with which it had formerly been confused. This was his reply to me.


Hi Peter, 


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.  In some instances I have seen them living and reproducing between the new shoots of banana plants.  They may do the same with other plants.  They jump onto foraging Apis mellifera when they visit the plants and use Apis mellifera to disperse through the environment.  Sometimes they can reach huge numbers inside the hives.

Denis.

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