The first gonocycle of the parasitic mite (Varroa juobsoni) in relation to preimaginal development of its host, the honey bee (Apis mellifra carnicar)

Summary Initiation of oocyte development in Varroa jacobsoni depends on whether the female enters the brood cell of Apis mellifra before operculation and subsequently sucks hemolymph from a late fifth instar bee larva. Females inserted into the brood 24 h after cell capping, during the spinning phase of the bee larva, do not initiate oocyte development. All stages of mite vitellogenesis and embryogenesis which are described here develop in a close temporal relation to the host stages. A timetable of the first gonocycle is given showing its duration in worker and drone host cells. About 70 h after capping of the bee brood cell, the first egg is laid containing a nearly completed protonymph that hatches within the next day.