This photograph was sent in by a reader. The white surface is known as a sticky board, white board, or Varroa drawer. It’s the board that goes under a screened bottom and is used to monitor mite drop from the hive.
The two leggy little tan critters near the bottom are immature Varroa mites. This is quite a good picture because often these guys are nearly transparent and very tiny. The times I’ve seen them, they scurry across the board and don’t hold still for very long.
Immature mites are not counted when calculating mite drops. I think it has to do with the difficulty of finding them but, at any rate, they are not included so you don’t have to go looking for them. Nevertheless, seeing them is an indication of what is going on inside a hive.
In this case, these little guys were the first sign this beekeeper had of mites in her colony. Being observant has given her the advantage of knowing early that she will have to take steps to control them.
Thank you, Jess, for sharing your photo.
Rusty
Immature mites on a sticky board. Photo by Jess S.
I need something like this to determine if my bees have mites. Thanks for the picture.