Figures
Two mites feeding between the sternites of an adult honey bee. Mites move frequently from bee to bee in order to feed
The parasitic mite Varroa destructor made an evolutionary host jump onto Apis mellifera, the western honey bee during the last century. For years their behavior on adult bees was misunderstood, and defined as a passive state of phoresy. However, when on adult bees Varroa actively switch from one adult bee host to another to feed. Lamas et al. showed this act of parasitism shortens the life of adult bees while offering opportunities for bidirectional fluid exchange between vector and host. The image shows two mites feeding on the underside of an adult bee.
Image Credit: Zachary Lamas
Citation: (2023) PLoS Pathogens Issue Image | Vol. 19(1) February 2023. PLoS Pathog 19(1): ev19.i01. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.ppat.v19.i01
Published: February 14, 2023
Copyright: © 2023 . This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
The parasitic mite Varroa destructor made an evolutionary host jump onto Apis mellifera, the western honey bee during the last century. For years their behavior on adult bees was misunderstood, and defined as a passive state of phoresy. However, when on adult bees Varroa actively switch from one adult bee host to another to feed. Lamas et al. showed this act of parasitism shortens the life of adult bees while offering opportunities for bidirectional fluid exchange between vector and host. The image shows two mites feeding on the underside of an adult bee.
Image Credit: Zachary Lamas