Luckily, it is the less virulent Japanese type of varroan mite in Taiwan

Bees are already essential to people both in honey production and pollination efficiency. However, colony collapse disorder (CCD) has considerably reduced bee, Apis mellifera, worldwide. The parasitic mite of Varroa destructor is the major one amongst the CCD causing factors. In total of 27 V. destructor haplotypes, only Japanand Russia-related types could reproduce in A. mellifera; type R can infects more A. mellifera colonies and can induce a more severe damage than type J. Therefore, to prevent the invasion risks of type R is crucial for bee industry. In Taiwan, all varroans obtained from A. mellifera were identical belonging to the less virulent type J, which might explain why no CCD has not been recorded in Taiwan. Moreover, one newly found type T (Taiwan) in populations of Apis cerana is intermediate between types J and R, offering a possibility for studying the mechanism of virulence transformation between these two haplotypes.

Parasite mites on bee pupa (Left); Adult male and deutonymph of mite (Upper-Right); Adult female (Lower-Right).
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