As a beekeeper, I am not alone in hating Varroa mites. I have lost far too many hives to this pest over the years. Their name says it all “Varroa destructor.”
There are several behaviors that help bees resist Varroa; traits such as VSH and other hygienic behavior depend on how the bees respond to the Varroa in the brood.
Other types of behavior relate to how the bees act towards the mites when they are on the bees themselves (when the mites are phoretic). Allogrooming, when one bee grooms another, is one such behavior. There are queen breeders now selecting for bees that “bite the mites.”
When combined with VSH, effective mite allogrooming should be a valuable additional tool in our arsenal against Varroa.
