Varroa mites suck hemolymph from the adults and brood of honey bee workers, drones and queens. Damage is manifested by decreased bee longevity, weight, wax production and an over-all decline in colony strength and vigor. Adult femal varroa mites are a dark brown and large enough to be detected with the naked eye, measuring form 1.2-1.6mm in width, about the size of a common dog flea.
Males are only a fraction of the size of females and are clear of color.
Both males and females feed on honey bees with females being the most damaging. A male hatches from the unfertilized egg and females hatch form the fertilized eggs. The male mates with mature females before the host bee has emerged form its brood cell. Materials needed are a pint glass 'fruit' jar and an aerosol can of ether based starting fluid. Approximately 100 worker bees are scraped into the glass jar from a frame taken from near the middle of a hive needing to be sampled for a varroa mite infestation.