I have just been directed to this by hivemaker on the beekeeping forum (Peter Little) and it really is groundbreaking stuff. It seems extremely likely from this work that the varroa mites feed on the bees’ fat body material rather than blood, and 95% of mites attach to the underside of the bees.
There will be implications for types and timings of mite treatments in the future.
[…] way to keep up with that is through research papers and articles in the magazines. As an example, Samuel Ramsey’s work showing that varroa mites feed on the fat bodies of bees not their blood is not something that […]