# Talk:Varroa destructor

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 2 February 2021 and 13 May 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): R0a01gz. Peer reviewers: Kmj2016, Savannahcallie.
Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 12:16, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

I think we should separate the topic Varrioatosis into its own article...I am not an expert on this subject, but it appears that other species of Varroa cause varrioatosis in other species of honeybee...it is not limited to varroa destructor infesting apis mellifera and thus should not simply be a topic in this article --Erudy 16:17, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
Standard foundation is 5.4mm so 4.9mm is .5mm smaller.
Michael Bush 19:38, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
Some of the methods under behavioral should be moved to mechanical. In fact most of them should. Scot.mcpherson 14:39, 12 May 2007 (UTC)


#### 'Until recently'
Can I suggest to re-phrase the sentence where 'until recently' was used? This in order to make sure that the sentence is still correct if read when 'until recently' is not that recently ;) (i.e: change 'until recently' to 'until late May 2007' or something... Stephanvaningen 19:26, 7 June 2007 (UTC)


#### 'Sticky board'
I'm a new beewhatcher, so I'm hesitant to edit the article, but it states, "Screened bottom board with sticky board. It separates mites that fall through the screen and the sticky board prevents them from crawling back up." It's my understanding that the mites cannot crawl back up to re-enter the hive, that it's called a sticky board because making it sticky prevents the mites from getting dislodged during removal or transport and it only needs to be sticky when doing a mite count. Nonukes 02:00, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Be Bold!  But find a source for your statement.--Blue Tie 16:34, 23 September 2007 (UTC)


#### 'coumophose is VX'
Aside from both being organophosphates, there is no connection that I could discern.  Coumaphos (note spelling) is "moderately toxic by inhalation and dermal absorption" (http://extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/coumapho.htm).  Please feel free to undo my edit if you can show otherwise. 75.26.166.70 (talk) 02:14, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Organophosphates in general were first studied seriously as a spinoff from nerve gas research, so there is a historical connection as well as the chemical similarity.  I think that's documented fairly well in the relevant Wikipedia articles on the individual compounds.  However, the "organophosphates = NERVE GAS OMG!" thing is a distortion spread by certain well-meaning but misinformed political groups.  (And maybe people who read Zodiac without realizing that even "hard" science fiction is still fiction.)  The ones used as insecticides are not the same ones used as chemical weapons, for obvious reasons - chemical weapons are tuned to be toxic to humans, while insecticides are tuned to be as non-toxic to humans as possible while still being toxic to the targeted insects.  67.158.74.7 (talk) 00:58, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Under 'synthetic chemicals' you will find Manley's thymol and sugar spirit mixture as food; both sugar spirits and thymol (as thyme essential oil) are listed as naturally occurring chemicals. Do they stop being naturally occurring chemicals when you mix them together? --216.67.4.177 (talk) 19:15, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Jseyrak (talk • contribs) 13:13, 29 October 2011 (UTC) 

May I note the section of the article where it states 'As of the second half of 2010, Australia was thought to be free of the mite.[7]'I believe from my understanding that officially Australia is not a confirmed country that harbors Varroa destructor, however if this has indeed changed recently it would be probably best to cite a more reliable source other than the Sydney Morning Herald, as has been done with this statement. (JS10/11)  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jseyrak (talk • contribs) 13:19, 29 October 2011 (UTC) 

The information is clearly linked to a time (based on a source that is considered reliable), and therefore makes no claims about the current situation. Of course an update would be welcome, so feel free... GFHandel ♬  20:54, 19 June 2012 (UTC)

"High mite populations in the autumn can cause a crisis when drone rearing ceases and the mites switch to worker larvae, causing a quick population crash and often hive death."  -- Is there a source for this conclusion that references the loss of drone rearing and thus "switching to worker larve" as the cause?
178.12.116.229 (talk) 11:53, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

Any particular reason why there is so much abbreviation in the identification section? I personally find it harder to read.Cliff (talk) 03:24, 26 February 2017 (UTC)

Once a genus is mentioned it is pretty standard to abbreviate the genus as the article progresses.  Gotta say, that when studying mites these abbreviations are the easy stuff.  Here is something from the Bee Mite ID webpage, (cited bottom of the Varroa article):
Diagnosis
Female: Gnathosoma with 3 pairs hypostomal setae (Fig. 3). Idiosoma transversely oval in outline (Figs. 1, 2). Opisthosoma hypertrichous (Figs. 1, 2, 5). Exopodal IV, epigynal, and matapodal shields enlarged, covering almost all of ventral opisthosoma (Fig. 2). Epigynal and metapodal shields almost touching (Fig. 2). Anal opening ventral (Fig. 2).
In this case, the images referenced help -- kinda.  In time you will get used to the abbreviations. Good luck.  GeeBee60 (talk) 16:46, 17 June 2017 (UTC)

lemon & lemongrass is used to attract bees and not especially to treat varroa. what I found in the reference was lavender and thyme.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.234.49.75 (talk) 18:12, 28 August 2017 (UTC) 

This bit is problematic:
"It may be a contributing factor to colony collapse disorder, as research shows it is the main factor for collapsed colonies in Ontario, Canada"

Colony collapse disorder traditionally refers to a specific set of characteristics. There is no evidence of these specific characteristics occuring in Ontario. Using the term CCD is a bit confusing if not misleading if referring to bee deaths in Ontario.
The cited research is from 2009. It's not a great link, as it's somewhat outdated, and presents an opinion that is controversial in the bee research community. Guzman, One of the Authors, even admits that he has not studied pesticides in this article.
Since 2009 there have been a large amount of acute pesticide poisoning incidents in Ontario, a great deal more research has been conducted, and the province has made large changes to pesticide regulations as a result.
The idea that varroa is the 'main factor' in general bee related deaths, should be removed. New research suggests pesticide exposure has a significant impact on bee health, compromises their immune system, and reduces survivability. There is also research suggesting pesticides render bees more susceptible to the impact of varroa mites.

On 30 December 2017, RichardVwilliams left the text below as comments within an edit summary and a reference tag. I do not have enough knowledge of this subject to know if the comments are worth following up, but they are better placed here than in their original locations:
"Dusting the bees with icing sugar, as they enter the hive, or as they move around the hive, causes them to groom themselves more thoroughly than normal. The grooming removes at least the majority of Varroa Destructor mites. Not published. Recounted by a bee-keeper with several hives - needs verification by a beekeeper who has used the method."
Thanks. Pyrope 14:13, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

In the US, the equivalent term for "icing sugar" is "powdered sugar".  Dusting is one of three methods I know of that is recommended for examining a hive and determining whether the mite population has achieved critical mass needing treatment. The statement that their "grooming removes at least the majority" of mites is misleading. It does remove enough for a good body count, but it does not kill mites, and does not affect mites living in the brood.
Here is an overview from one skilled beekeeper: https://honeybeesuite.com/monitoring-mites-with-a-sugar-shake/, and a more in-depth study from another: http://scientificbeekeeping.com/powdered-sugar-dusting-sweet-and-safe-but-does-it-really-work-part-1/ GeeBee60 (talk) 15:25, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

I'm not an expert, but the scientific classification shown on this page (order: parisitiformes, suborder: mesostigmata) looks inconsistent with the classification given on the page for the genus Varroa (order: mesostigmata).  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mnjuckes (talk • contribs) 21:35, 19 March 2018 (UTC) 

This section is mostly devoted to a highbrow scolding of people who use the wrong name, with little actually said about varroosis. :-( GeeBee60 (talk) 14:27, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

"The Varroa mite can only reproduce in a honey bee colony. It attaches to the body of the bee and weakens the bee by sucking fat bodies."
The link to "body fat" (adipose tissue) is incorrect. This is explicitly made clear by Dr. Samuel Ramsey in the following video lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=DK2Xi0ST4rA See also: https://beemaniacs.com/knowledge-base/fat-body/ and for a more technical source here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0024794
KMPfeiffer (talk) 09:12, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

We really should add a sub-section at least on this, as there are now Buckfast strains which are varroa resistant (carnica breeders are claiming that they too have some strains within the subspecies which are also resistant through the breeding of VSH). I'll try and start putting a small paragraph together, any contributions / thoughts would be very helpful. --Bibby (talk) 21:47, 9 December 2019 (UTC)

I noticed the section needed citation. here are some sources i found. 
.--R0a01gz (talk) 20:28, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

Is anyone opposed to changing the name here to the common name Varroa mite instead of species name? Just glancing at the genus article Varroa, but I'm not seeing any other species that hold that common name, and this species is pretty ubiquitously referred to by the sole common name mentioned here. The only caution I could see is if the entire genus is frequently referred to as Varroa mites, but I couldn't find anything for sources really doing that. KoA (talk) 16:39, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

Scratch that, I see sometimes varroa mite is used to describe both species.[1] KoA (talk) 20:37, 27 August 2023 (UTC)