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Content archived on 2023-04-17

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Age composition of Varroa mites falling free on sticky board

Dear friends, I want to show you an illustration on the age composition of Varroa mites falling free on sticky board.

This fact force us to ask a question - all the mites or not should be taken into account, when calculating the number of Varroa mites, falling free onto the sticky board, the goal of which is to determine whether the family needs anti-varroa treatment with chemical preparations? ... Here it is perfectly clear, that the age composition of the falling ticks is very different ... From protonymphs and young unfertilized females, which the bees throw away when cleaning the cells, to adult ticks of different ages - from young to very old ... (based on the color of their chitinous shell )... As we have already said, we believe that non-mature and mature mites must be considered separately, since young mites did not and will not participate in reproduction, and they do not affect population growth. At the same time, the peak of their number in the composition of falling mites indicates a sharp increase in the reproduction of the mites, and danger looming on the family, even with a still not high drop of old mature mites.