[2][3] A significant mite infestation leads to the death of a honey bee colony, usually in the late autumn through early spring.

Without management for Varroa mite, honey bee colonies typically collapse within 2 to 3 years in temperate climates.

The Varroa mite is the parasite with possibly the most pronounced economic impact on the beekeeping industry and is one of multiple stress factors contributing to the higher levels of bee losses around the world.

Management of this pest focuses on reducing mite numbers through monitoring to avoid significant hive losses or death.

3% of bees infested in a hive is considered an economic threshold where damage is high enough to warrant additional management.

Honey bee lines in breeding programs also show partial resistance to Varroa mite through increased hygienic behavior that is being incorporated as an additional management strategy.

[9] Host bee species can help differentiate mite species in the genus Varroa; both V. destructor and Varroa jacobsoni parasitize Apis cerana, the Asian honey bee, but the closely related mite species originally described as V. jacobsoni by Anthonie Cornelis Oudemans in 1904 does not attack Apis mellifera, the western honey bee, unlike V. destructor.

[1][10] The two species cannot be easily distinguished with physical traits and have 99.7% similar genomes,[11] so DNA analysis is required instead.

[13][14] If a Varroa species is found on a western honey bee, it will typically be V. destructor except where V. underwoodi is present, such as in Papua New Guinea.

[11] Varroa mite has low genetic diversity, which is typical for an invasive species undergoing a range or host expansion.

Immature mites can only feed on capped brood, so the life cycle cannot be completed during broodless periods.

These females are called foundress mites, and they bury themselves in brood food provided by worker bees before the cell is capped.

Unless multiple foundress mites are present in a cell, mating occurs between siblings when they reach the adult stage.

[11] Adult mites feed on both adult bees and bee larvae by sucking on the fat body, an insect organ that stores glycogen and triglycerides with tissue abundant under epidermis and the surrounding internal body cavity.

Feeding on fat body cells significantly decreases the weight of both the immature and adult bee.

[25][26] They have also been found on larvae of some wasp species, such as Vespula vulgaris, and flower-feeding insects such as the bumblebee, Bombus pensylvanicus, the scarab beetle, Phanaeus vindex, and the flower-fly, Palpada vinetorum.

Prior to the widespread introduction of Varroa mite, honey bee viruses were typically considered a minor issue.

[4][28] There is some evidence that harm from both Varroa mite and associated viruses they transmit may be a contributing factor that leads to colony collapse disorder (CCD).

The bees are shaken in a container of either powdered sugar, alcohol, or soapy water to dislodge and count mites.

Powdered sugar is generally considered non-lethal to honey bees, but lethal methods such as alcohol can be more effective at dislodging mites.

[35] Varroa mites can be treated with commercially available acaricides that must be timed carefully to minimize the contamination of honey that might be consumed by humans.

Many of these products whether synthetic or naturally produced can negatively affect honey bee brood or queens.

[35] Synthetic compounds often have high efficacy against Varroa mites, but resistance has occurred for all of these products in different areas of the world.

[35] Resistance to pyrethroids has occurred in the Czech Republic and the UK due to a single amino acid substitution on Varroa mite's genome.

Efforts also have been made to breed hygienic honey bees heritable behavior traits, such as those with resistance to Varroa mites.

There are minimal trade-off costs to hives that have this hygienic behavior, so it is being actively pursued in bee breeding programs.

This can reduce infestation to 50% without harm to honey bees and is being pursued as an additional control method for Varroa mite.