Bee vampire picks the right host to suck https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160615111710.htm The paper (open) Why do *Varroa* mites prefer nurse bees? http://www.nature.com/articles/srep28228 Abstract The *Varroa* mite, *Varroa destructor,* is an acarine ecto-parasite on *Apis mellifera.* It is the worst pest of *Apis mellifera*, yet its reproductive biology on the host is not well understood. In particular, the significance of the phoretic stage, when mites feed on adult bees for a few days, is not clear. In addition, it is not clear whether the preference of mites for nurses observed in the laboratory also happens inside real colonies. We show that *Varroa* mites prefer nurses over both newly emerged bees and forgers in a colony setting. We then determined the mechanism behind this preference. We show that this preference maximizes *Varroa* fitness, although due to the fact that each mite must find a second host (a pupa) to reproduce, the fitness benefit to the mites is not immediate but delayed. Our results suggest that the Varroa mite is a highly adapted parasite for honey bees. *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html