WASBA

WASHINGTON STATE BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION

Keeping the Bee in Business

New Research About Varroa & it’s Food

Remember we used to think that mites fed on the hemolymph of honey bees and then Dr. Samuel Ramsey discovered that adult mites fed on the fat bodies of adult bees not hemolymph. This new research states that pre-emergent mites feed off the hemolymph of the bee pupae, while adult mites not in the cells with the developing bee pupae feed off the fat bodies of adult bees. So basically both statements are correct depending on the age of the mite. This behavior also can be seen in the tropilaelaps mite. Read more from nature.com >