Varroa Mite Feeding Study

I do not think that Dr. Samuel Ramsey’s incredible presentation on the weekend at the Zoom BCHPA semi-AGM was recorded, but here at least is a link to a paper that includes the electron micrographs that he used in his talk. Some really incredible stuff. I was particularly blown away by the use of gelcap pill casings to simulate the body of a bee larva in order to feed the mites a specific diet of hemolymph (bee blood) or bee fat body tissue in order to prove that the mites zero in on the fat body and do not feed on hemolymph as was previously believed.