OmnibusPrime

I can't wait to check out your videos, but I sort of fell into this thread by accident and I'm so damn tired.... but I have a burning question.

As I understand it, Varroa destructor mites typically enter honeybee colonies on drones. The female scurries toward drone cells, favorable because of the extra room. She hides at the bottom of the cell, snacking on the prepupa. Sixty hours after the cell is capped, the female mite lays an egg which will be male. She will then lay a clutch of other eggs, one every 30 hours, which will all hatch as female. The females all mate with the male. When the bee emerges, the mated females leave and are transferred through the colony, while the male and any immature females remain in the cell.

How the hell are these inbred devilspawn able to evolve? A virgin queen bee might mate with her "half brother," but she also mates with as great a number of drones as possible so there's some genetic diversity. It seems less of an issue if her half-brother is only 1/16th of her available genetic bank. Where does mutation/genetic diversity come in on the Varroa life cycle?

When I asked this question years ago at bee school, they just said "because" a few times. I get the same answer now. What am I missing?

He will be called "Puke-Ass" or "Mucus" on the playground. Just so you know.

The Lucas I know was less fortunate, and told me his playground nicknames. When he and his wife had a child he made sure nothing rhymed with her name. As a person who has an easily rhymed name myself, I understand. For the record, I think it's a great name- though not quite as musical as ohfuckit, JR.