The Varroa mite is an external parasite, feeding on the hemolymph, or blood, of immature (brood) and adult bees. They live either on adults or within brood cells.
A mated, adult female mite (called a foundress) enters a worker brood cell 15 to 20 hours prior to capping (40 to 50 hours pre-capping for drone brood) and feeds on the larva after the cell is capped. She lays her first egg about 60 hours later and may lay as many as six eggs at 30-hour intervals. Her young feed on the bee prepupa and pupa, taking 7 to 8 days (females) or 5 to 6 days (males) to mature.
Mating occurs in the capped cell. Although several eggs are laid, the average number of mature, viable female mites produced per foundress in a cell is less than two.
When the bee emerges from the cell, the new female(s) may stay attached to the bee or may attach to another bee. They feed on these bees and may stay on them for a few days to a few months depending on the time of year. Eventually they will enter a brood cell to begin the reproductive cycle over again. The original foundress may survive to infest and reproduce in another cell.
-John Skinner, University of Tennessee
