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I just read an article from Bee Informed Partnership, Lessons from riding in a Bee Truck. The author was told that varroa mites do not die when submerged in alcohol, they hold their breath. Sure enough, according to the author, after being submerged for up to 60 minutes the mites were removed and were still alive. Very interesting !!! (If correct)
Peter,
That's pretty interesting.
Here is the link to the article which you mentioned.
https://beeinformed.org/2023/10/03/lessons-from-riding-shotgun-in-the-bee-truck/
Lesson #4: Never underestimate the power of the Varroa mite
On one long drive in early August, Kim Guillemette, my co-field specialist in the South Central, and I were comparing methods of doing alcohol washes. Kim casually mentioned that the mites don’t actually die in the alcohol because they can hold their breath. I turned and looked at her like she was crazy (sorry Kim) — alcohol kills invertebrates, and I’d done hundreds of alcohol washes and those things floated around like they were long gone. I needed to see this for myself. Over the next few days, I watched in astonishment as mites that had been sitting in alcohol for 10, 30, and even 60+ minutes picked themselves up out of our sampling sieve and scurried across the truck bed. As I dropped them in a test tube to send away for amitraz resistance testing, they climbed BACK UP out of the tube (and continued to do this each time I pushed them down like the little menaces they are). In case I needed more evidence of what a formidable enemy Varroa are, this was it.
That's pretty interesting.
Here is the link to the article which you mentioned.
https://beeinformed.org/2023/10/03/lessons-from-riding-shotgun-in-the-bee-truck/
Lesson #4: Never underestimate the power of the Varroa mite
On one long drive in early August, Kim Guillemette, my co-field specialist in the South Central, and I were comparing methods of doing alcohol washes. Kim casually mentioned that the mites don’t actually die in the alcohol because they can hold their breath. I turned and looked at her like she was crazy (sorry Kim) — alcohol kills invertebrates, and I’d done hundreds of alcohol washes and those things floated around like they were long gone. I needed to see this for myself. Over the next few days, I watched in astonishment as mites that had been sitting in alcohol for 10, 30, and even 60+ minutes picked themselves up out of our sampling sieve and scurried across the truck bed. As I dropped them in a test tube to send away for amitraz resistance testing, they climbed BACK UP out of the tube (and continued to do this each time I pushed them down like the little menaces they are). In case I needed more evidence of what a formidable enemy Varroa are, this was it.
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