Varroa Mites Are a Honeybee’s 8-Legged Nightmare | Deep Look

Every year, up to half the honeybee colonies in the U.S. die. Varroa mites, the bees’ ghastly parasites, are one of the main culprits. After hitching a ride into a hive, a mite mom hides in a honeycomb cell, where she and her offspring feed on a growing bee. But beekeepers and scientists are helping honeybees fight back. TAKE OUR VIEWER SURVEY! BINDWEED BEES: Join our community on PATREON! DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED in San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. Photo of varroa mite: D. Kucharski K. Kucharska/ --- To feed, a varroa mite nestles between a honeybee’s protective plates. It digs in with its gnarly mouth, the gnathosoma. The mite sinks it into a crucial organ called the fat body, a laye