“…In brood cells hosting more than one foundress, male and female offspring of two or more mother mites can mate, thereby allowing for recombination (Beaurepaire et al., 2017) and contributing to the high genetic diversity of these populations (Dietemann et al., 2019; Z Lin, S Wang, P Neumann, G Chen, P Page, L Li, F Hu, H Zheng & V Dietemann, unpublished data). Multiple infestations can lead to hybridization between sympatric mite taxa, which are identified with increasing frequency and can affect the population structure and virulence of this parasite (e.g., Dietemann et al., 2019; Techer et al., 2020; Z Lin, S Wang, P Neumann, G Chen, P Page, L Li, F Hu, H Zheng & V Dietemann, unpublished data; H Zheng, S Wang, Y Wu, S Zou, V Dietemann, P Neumann, Y Chen, H Li‐Byarlay, C Pirk, J Evans, F Hu & Y Feng, unpublished data).…”