[jwcarlson]

Does this look like a mite on my queen?

View attachment 10819

http://www.beesource.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=10819&d=1400028937

 

[kenargo]

Yes. Its difficult to tell definition but it does appear to be a varroa.

 

[drlonzo]

YES it is, and your queen has DWV from the looks.

 

[Teipsum]

weird question. How did she fly to mate with DWV? I thought they emerged from the cell with DWV, do they develop it at any time?

 

[drlonzo]

DWV is just that, a Virus. Varroa carry the virus by nature. I'm not saying for sure that she has it, but her wings look very strange in the photo, and to me it looks like DWV. It also could be that she fought with another virgin prior to winning the hive, etc and they got chewed on or something. In any case, if at all possible i would remove that varroa from her and get rid of it.

 

[kenargo]

never mind; someone beat me to it

 

[JRG13]

It's not a mite, it's just the base of her thorax and she's cordovan from the looks of it which is why her thorax is more brown than black in color. Take a look at this picture, you can see the 'mite' shaped structure at the end of the thorax, that is all and the angle of the picture.

http://blog.syncsort.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Queen-Bee1.jpg

 

[jwcarlson]

DWV is just that, a Virus. Varroa carry the virus by nature. I'm not saying for sure that she has it, but her wings look very strange in the photo, and to me it looks like DWV. It also could be that she fought with another virgin prior to winning the hive, etc and they got chewed on or something. In any case, if at all possible i would remove that varroa from her and get rid of it.

This was a package installed about 10 days ago, I do agree that this picture looks like she almost doesn't have wings. I did not notice her wings being strange when we installed and did not when we saw her on the comb in that picture. She's laying like a champ, though, at the moment. I did not notice the "varroa" when we saw her the other day either. I have pretty good eyes and saw a few mites just when dumping in the few packages I've installed.

It's not a mite, it's just the base of her thorax and she's cordovan from the looks of it which is why her thorax is more brown than black in color. Take a look at this picture, you can see the 'mite' shaped structure at the end of the thorax, that is all and the angle of the picture.

http://blog.syncsort.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Queen-Bee1.jpg

I thought this as well, just looked like it would be almost impossible for the angle to make that "part" appear where it does in the picture. She almost has to have had her head looking down into that cell, which may explain why her wings look strange too.

And you're wrong, she's Carniolan. At least according to the queen supplier. Four queens from them this year all Carniolans... three have looked exactly like this queen (three Cordovans) and one actual Carniolan.

 

[jwcarlson]

My brother had a couple other pictures he took that he just sent me:







Looking at these her wings still seem "messed up", but it doesn't look like that's actually a mite. Just an off angle picture that makes it appear as though it is.