The life cycle consists of an egg, larvae, resting stage, and adult male or female. All stages of the mite may be found in older bees. Mated female mites leave the breathing tubes where they develop and climb to the tip of a body hair. As bees come in contact with one another, the mites attach themselves to the hairs of a passing bee and enter the tracheae through the thoracic spiracles. If the mite does not locate a new host within 24 hours, it will die.
Mites leave the trachea after the death of the bee.
Drifting bees between hives and swarms from infested colonies are ways that the mite can be spread within the apiary and between apiaries. Large variations in susceptibility to infestation exists among bees. Worker bees become rapidly less susceptible to infestation as they age, and bees more than 9 days old rarely become infested. Queen honey bees also exhibit a rapid decline in susceptibility to mite infestation with increasing age. When tracheal mite infestation is light or in its early stages, honey bees are not adversely affected.