# Purdue Mite-Biters



## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

The ABJ has published quite a few excellent articles in the realm of resistance breeding of late. Here is a two-part article about the Purdue 'Mite-Biter' program. A few highlights:




























The article also makes reference to the following presentation by Mr. Krispn Given:

Selecting for Behavioral Resistance to Varroa Destructor


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## Nicksotherhoney (Jun 10, 2017)

Great articles! A lot of great info! I’m interested in the SDI process curious to see what will come of these projects! Thanks again! I might make a queen purchase from the Bee Monks - Holy Cross Monastery Apiary we had beautiful monastery not too far from where I have my apiary now but unfortunately they had to close.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

@Nicksotherhoney:

Thank you for the feedback- the 'Bee Monks' website is quite impressive.

Did you get a chance to watch the corresponding video? Three things stood-out to me:

1. Their selection fundamentals:











2. The balancing act to not over-emphasize hygienic behavior:



















3. The drone brood assay for testing:


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## William Bagwell (Sep 4, 2019)

Odd find at my local clubs apiary recently sort of ties to this. White-eyed drones  Purdue was contacted and they were not only interested they wanted 'moma' as well. Club is getting some flavor of VSH queen in exchange. (Details are vague and only posted to the members page) Nice pictures of the drones are posted on another group which I believe is public. Map My DCA
If link does not work, search Facebook for "mapmydca" and scroll down to June 16th.


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## Nicksotherhoney (Jun 10, 2017)

@Litsinger Where was the video located on their site? I had trouble trying to navigate it.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

William Bagwell said:


> Purdue was contacted and they were not only interested they wanted 'moma' as well.


That is really cool, @William Bagwell. Those are some dark drones.

I have found that Dr. Harpur is very approachable and interested in advancing our understanding of the genetic basis of resistance. It will be interesting to see how the 'mite biters' do in your locale.

One thing I will clarify- Purdue is not breeding for VSH. They are breeding for mite biting and for general hygiene. But it might help their progress if they started doing VSH assays and selecting for it as well.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Nicksotherhoney said:


> @Litsinger Where was the video located on their site? I had trouble trying to navigate it.


Sorry for the confusion- it is hyperlinked at the bottom of the initial post:



Litsinger said:


> Selecting for Behavioral Resistance to Varroa Destructor


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## AR1 (Feb 5, 2017)

Litsinger said:


> @Nicksotherhoney:
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> 
> 
> ...


I wish there was some way to know if there were actual mites under all those recently opened caps. It's only excessive if they are opening caps that don't have disease as well as the diseased ones.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

AR1 said:


> It's only excessive if they are opening caps that don't have disease as well as the diseased ones.


Agreed. And while I admire the Purdue program and feel we can learn a great deal from their work, it appears that selection for general hygiene (as opposed to VSH) seems to suffer from a lack of precision and seems to lend itself to excess- I'm thinking of Spivak's Minnesota Hygienic work as an example.

While it is laborious and time-consuming, it is hard to argue that the Harbor VSH Assay is not the best single resistance selection criteria developed to-date:






harbobeeco - Measure VSH







www.harbobeeco.com


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