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Varroa entering a cell

varroa, entering cell

Female of Varroa (markerd red) entering a brood cell.


When a worker infested with Varroa approaches brood cell just before capping, the mite leaves the worker and goes to the cell rim or capping of the nearby cell. Next the mite enters the cell and hides behind the larva at the cell bottom. This takes about one minute Behaviour of Varroa mites invading honey bee brood cells,
Experimental and Applied Acarology
, Volume 18, Number 6, p.371–379, (1994)
[1].