Do male varroa mites feed?
Some papers say yes most say nay leaving me confused
Their wee pointy chelicerae become hollow after the last molt & they never leave the brood cell, but do they feed prior to this?
I also read that the female eats some of the larval food when she submerges initially (Morse & flottum book ), but no-one else states this
This is an interesting article but i dont think it answers your question.
http://articles.extension.org/pages/...uctive-biology
Thanks, there are some good papers out there. I think they must feed even if its just in the protonymph stage to get the protein to develop their sperm?
They grow in size, develop and metamorphose over 6.5 days, moulting in the process, so they will have to feed to achieve this. As you pointed out, they change their mouthparts at the last moult into - well, structures not designed for feeding - which likely means they are on a starvation diet from that point.Originally Posted by EK.Bee
Kanbar and Engels (2003) show an image (Fig 4) which purports to be a male deutonymph (the one with compromised feeding apparatus) feeding from a drone pupa.
You would have had to pay for access to the paper but our chums over on Biobees have a copy available:
http://www.biobees.com/library/gener...ch_paper_1.pdf
Glad I'm not a bee - them feeding holes actually appear to be pretty darn big
Could be worse, you could be a male varroa only alive for a few days & have to have an incestuous relationship with all your sisters on top of a pile of your mother's faeces!
Marvellous pictures!
Luxury!!Could be worse, you could be a male varroa only alive for a few days & have to have an incestuous relationship with all your sisters on top of a pile of your mother's faeces!
I thought the Varroa defecated at the bottom end of the cell? That's a relatively long way from the feeding hole in the pupa. Perhaps that's also where they choose to conduct their 'incestuous relationship'. There's kinky and there's depraved.Could be worse, you could be a male varroa only alive for a few days & have to have an incestuous relationship with all your sisters on top of a pile of your mother's faeces!
Which makes me wonder ... do those who study the biology of the mite actually discuss this sort of thing - for example over drinks and canapés - with 'normal' people. I know someone who did her PhD. on anaerobic sewage sludge digestion, a nailed-on conversation killer at dinner parties
PS Do people who study this sort of thing get invited for drinks and canapés?
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