Varroa mite
The varroa mite is a tiny reddish brown mite shaped like a flat button. It rides on honey bees and feeds on them, and it is one of the biggest problems beekeepers have. It is only about as big as a pinhead.
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Fun facts
It has eight legs but no eyes at all.
Its curved, flat body slips neatly between the body segments of a bee.
The females are reddish brown, but the males are white.
It can only have babies inside a honey bee nest, where it lays eggs in the cells with bee babies.
It spreads at least five bee illnesses, like one that makes bees grow crumpled wings.
Most asked questions about Varroa mite
?Is the varroa mite dangerous to people?
No. It only lives on honey bees and cannot hurt people.
?Why is the varroa mite bad for bees?
It feeds on bees, makes them weak and spreads bee illnesses. Without help from beekeepers, a hive can die within two or three years.
?How big is a varroa mite?
Only about 1 to 2 millimetres, like a pinhead.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Varroa destructor
- Group
- Scorpions, ticks and friends
- Family
- Varroidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Mesostigmata > Varroidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Varroa destructor (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by GillesSM. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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