Dornfield
New Bee
- Joined
- May 16, 2020
- Messages
- 22
- Reaction score
- 15
- Location
- Oxfordshire
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 2
Hi All,
Undeterred by the lack of response to my last post, I today observed lots (maybe >30) of small (smaller than varroa) yellowish mites moving at fair speed through the detritus on the inspection board. Unfortunately, I am unable to share any images, as the USB microscope I use decided to lose connection to my computer before I had saved the images, but not before I had discarded all the actual bugs and cleaned the board! I am blessed.
Observation was that the mites (I presume) were smaller than Varroa, very much alive, in "all stages of development" (some were vanishingly small, so I presume 'young') and in appearance they were pronounced 'pear drop' body with eight legs coming from the 'sharp end'.
The hive is not showing any varroa present (it is expanding slowly from a nuc from early May) and although yet not thriving, it appears generally healthy with a good laying queen and lots of healthy looking brood in all stages.
So not varroa and not tropilaelaps. Not braula and not mellitiphis (I think) What are the other possibilities? Are there any mites that inhabit the hive that do not actually parasitise the bees themselves? They seemed quite happy on the inspection board, but they had pronounced 'pear drop' shaped bodies, rather than rounded.
I know an image would help, and I'll try to get that soon, when the inspection board becomes re-populated with mites.
Undeterred by the lack of response to my last post, I today observed lots (maybe >30) of small (smaller than varroa) yellowish mites moving at fair speed through the detritus on the inspection board. Unfortunately, I am unable to share any images, as the USB microscope I use decided to lose connection to my computer before I had saved the images, but not before I had discarded all the actual bugs and cleaned the board! I am blessed.
Observation was that the mites (I presume) were smaller than Varroa, very much alive, in "all stages of development" (some were vanishingly small, so I presume 'young') and in appearance they were pronounced 'pear drop' body with eight legs coming from the 'sharp end'.
The hive is not showing any varroa present (it is expanding slowly from a nuc from early May) and although yet not thriving, it appears generally healthy with a good laying queen and lots of healthy looking brood in all stages.
So not varroa and not tropilaelaps. Not braula and not mellitiphis (I think) What are the other possibilities? Are there any mites that inhabit the hive that do not actually parasitise the bees themselves? They seemed quite happy on the inspection board, but they had pronounced 'pear drop' shaped bodies, rather than rounded.
I know an image would help, and I'll try to get that soon, when the inspection board becomes re-populated with mites.
