With so many contradictory studies over the years about the varroa mite, is there anything about the mite that we can say is "for sure"? For example, just about everything that I've seen published say's that the mite prefers drone brood to reproduce on. Would you concur that this statement is close to being an absolute about the mite based on the research to date and from personal experience.
O.k, this may sound like a dumb question, but have they ever done an experiment where they take a live worker and drone larvae of about the age that they would be capped, put them on a plate an inch or so apart, then dump a few live mites right between the larvae, and see which one the mites crawl to, or at least the majority of mites seem to prefer. Then repeat the experiment a few times with different larvae and mites to prove the patten, if there is one.
O.k, this may sound like a dumb question, but have they ever done an experiment where they take a live worker and drone larvae of about the age that they would be capped, put them on a plate an inch or so apart, then dump a few live mites right between the larvae, and see which one the mites crawl to, or at least the majority of mites seem to prefer. Then repeat the experiment a few times with different larvae and mites to prove the patten, if there is one.