At least two companies are preparing to release other mite controls this fall and WSU is working on a mint oil extract to control a related parasite. Coumaphos is marketed in a product called Bayer Bee Strips that are hung in hives. They die when they touch the chemical, which is spread around the hives by bees. U.S. honeybees, however, can't fend off those mites, which attack larval bees as they mature. Now for the sex and gore.
Female mites sneak into the larva cells before the cells are covered over to let the bees develop.
Once alone with the forming bee, the mother mite lays her eggs. The first new mite is a male, followed by a horde of females. That makes many more mites - which munch on the trapped larva. Copyright 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved.