Preferences ofVarroa jacobsonifor honey bees (Apis melliferaL.) of different ages

Behaviour of Varroa mites invading honey bee brood cells

“…When not residing on a bee, mites may be motivated to find an adult bee rather than a larva. Kraus (1993) recently showed that Varroa mites indeed prefer the scent of adult bees over the scent of larvae when tested in an olfactometer.…”

Aliphatic alcohols and aldehydes of the honey bee cocoon induce arrestment behavior inVarroa jacobsoni (Acari: Mesostigmata), an ectoparasite ofApis mellifera

“…The adult female is the only stage which parasitizes adult honey bees, preferring nurse bees (Hoppe and Ritter, 1988;Kraus, 1990Kraus, , 1993Steiner, 1993). In order to reproduce, Varroa females infest the brood by walking first along the cell rim, then the cell wall, and finally by crawling between the larva and the cell wall into the larval food at the base of the cell.…”

Immunogene and viral transcript dynamics during parasitic Varroa destructor mite infection of developing honey bee (Apis mellifera) pupae

“…Individuals in the three mite treatment groups received one, two, or three to five (3+) phoretic V. destructor mites. These mites were collected from nurse bees of two independent donor colonies using powdered sugar shakes (Boecking and Ritter, 1993) to ensure that mites were reproductively active foundresses (Kraus, 1993;Steiner et al, 1994). Mites were cleaned of powdered (confectioner's) sugar using a small paintbrush and water and were then transferred into brood cells using ethanol-washed insect pinning needles (Aumeier and Rosenkranz, 2001).…”