Question about a Bee

Hi BBB, Thanks for your photograph and for asking that question and thanks Chris for the answer. It is one of those things I had never thought of and yet the answer makes sense. Another thing I have learnt today. 

Thanks Woodpecker and Brenda,

Woodpecker you gave me the judders with your website link. It looks like the Bee is done for then, poor thing, I know bloodsucking parasites can be fatal to tiny baby animals as they don't have a lot of blood so I can imagine what it is doing to that poor Bee.

Hello Bbb,

These Mesostigmate Mites (Parasitus fucorum) are realy quite common on bumble bee Sp. If you ever want to give it a try, the best way to help (apparently) is to hold the bee in tweezers, and immerse it in lukewarm water. The mites simply abandon ship.

Hi Mickcoop,

Is there a fine line between ridding them of Mites and drowning them. I'd certainly give it a go if I had tweezers and luke warm water to hand, I can't bare to think of anything suffering, even the Bee's, I feel horrible when I swat a fly.

Are these a type of veroa mite..?

Very bad news for Bees.

Hi Juno,

No, these are placed in the family Parasitidae, whilst Varroa Mites (Varroa destructor) come in the family..yep you guessed it...Varroaidae, and are host specific to Honey Bees. Depending on who's classification you go by, they might belong in the same suborder though.

And Bbb,

I gather that the mites vacate almost instantaneously. The bee gets awy with nothing more than a soaking. But then, If we sympathise with the bee, why not the mite? And, to play devil's advocate, shouldn't we then go round turfing Cuckoo chicks out of the host nest?

Ain't morality strange?

Hi Mickycoop,

This is very true, but if you had worms wouldn't you take a wormer, you have to draw the line somewhere, then again if you show me a nature programme highlighting the plight of the parasite I would probably feel sorry for them aswell lol, or sit throughout squirming.

Oh I agree entirely!