We have been wrong all along. Bees do not feed on hemolymph.

[Greengage]

I have not been here for a while as My administrator locked me out. But i figured out how to get back on. I dont know if many have seen this talk by Samuel Ramsey this will change how we treat varroa in the future, looks like all the previous books will have to be rewritten. Really exciting stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK2Xi0ST4rA&t=2s

[Adam]

Did you watch all 1 hr and 15 minutes of it?!
I scanned through only looking at the powerpoint slides......

[Greengage]

Yes I thought it was really interesting. I thought there would have been more discussion from beekeepers. I also thought he explained his research well and was enthuastic. I googled him and there is lots about him on the net. He also won the 3 minute lecture which you should watch it explains what it's all about in 3 minutes but if you have an hour to spare watch it although he does not talk for the whole hour there is a large section for q and a at the end.

[fatshark]

But has it been peer reviewed or published yet ... ?
Does our resident Varroa expert know? Over to you emcampbell

[mbc]

I listened to it and found it plausible and interesting, it makes sense to me though I cant imagine how its going to change any beekeeping practice apart from not labeling varroa "phoretic" in future.

[Mellifera Crofter]

But has it been peer reviewed or published yet ... ?
Does our resident Varroa expert know? Over to you emcampbell

Well, our Varroa expert has replied before, here (http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/showthread.php?2475-Werewolves-not-vampires&highlight=werewolves) - and so have you, Fatshark - same question!

[fatshark]

Oh dear ... another senior moment by me :(
I think I'm getting the message.
Thanks Kitta.

[Mellifera Crofter]

No - not at all! You just replied to GG’s question. It was easy for me to find the previous thread because I started it.

[alancooper]

Hi all,
I listened to the Sam Ramsey video-seminar last week. It was excellent science - very convincing. And it supported currently accepted varroa control approaches and especially a Sept treatment followed by a late Dec treatment (in my case OA-type). Well worth a listen - thanks for posting the link GG.
Alan

[gavin]

Well, I'm very used to sifting the nuggets from the (surprisingly frequent) chaff even in the reviewed scientific literature. I started watching the video more than a little sceptical as I found the 3-minute video last year unconvincing and full of fluff. This time he's given a most impressive account of his project. Although I'm not 100% sure I am happy to give him the benefit of the doubt and take on board that the previous assumptions on Varroa feeding have been wrong. An impressive young man.

I'd be really interested to hear what the currently active scientists here think of it. If you want publications, this one is on the technical side but does seem to describe degenerating fat bodies near puncture sites in adults. It is in a supplement so might be a conference presentation.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/microscopy-and-microanalysis/article/multimicroscopy-approach-to-discover-the-feeding-site-and-host-tissue-consumed-by-varroa-destructor-on-host-honey-bees/C91A73BE578AF8088E9167E06B3E0C5D

His thesis is lodged at the University of Maryland where you can see the abstract. Maybe he'd share the full thesis if one of you active in the field asked.

https://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/21012

His work is all on adult bees so I suppose it is possible that feeding on adults and pupae are different.

Background that hints that feeding may not be on haemolymph:

- lots of guanine waste deposited so protein rich food source suspected
- related mites are not haemolymph feeders

Experimental evidence:

- dyeing of haemolymph and of fat bodies in host bees shows high levels of fat body dye in feeding mites
- off-host feeding of Varroa goes better when macerated fat body is included (significance level borderline perhaps, hard to say)

Well worth watching if you have the time.

G.

[Greengage]

I am having problems logging on as it keeps saying time expired whether that is a problem my end or somewhere else I don,t know.
Anyway good to hear from people on here what they think. i thought it was interesting that he recorded the feeding sites on the larvae and also that the digestive system of Varroa and other blood sucking mites differed.
Looking forward to reading Gavin's links.