How long does a Varroa mite live? - briefly
Adult Varroa destructor mites survive roughly four to six weeks on adult honeybees. Inside sealed brood cells they can remain viable for up to two months before emerging.
How long does a Varroa mite live? - in detail
Varroa destructor is an external parasite of the western honey bee, Apis mellifera. Adult females attach to adult bees, feed on hemolymph, and reproduce within capped brood cells.
A mature female typically lives 4–6 weeks under normal colony conditions. Males emerge, mate, and die within about 2 weeks. Longevity varies with temperature, brood availability, and colony health.
The complete developmental sequence comprises four stages:
- Egg: laid by the foundress mite, hatches in 1–2 days.
- Protonymph: feeds for 2–3 days before molting.
- Deutonymph: undergoes a second molt after 5–7 days; this stage is the dispersal form that enters a new brood cell.
- Adult: after the final molt, the female begins oviposition within the cell; the adult phase lasts the remainder of the 4–6‑week period.
External factors modify these intervals. Temperatures between 32 °C and 35 °C accelerate development, shortening each stage by up to 20 %. Absence of suitable brood forces adult females to remain on adult bees, reducing their lifespan to roughly 10–14 days because they cannot reproduce. Exposure to sublethal pesticide residues can also shorten survival time.
In the absence of a host, a Varroa mite can persist for up to 2 weeks, but without access to brood it does not progress beyond the adult stage and eventually dies.
Thus, under optimal conditions a female mite survives for about one month, while the full life cycle from egg to death spans roughly 6–8 weeks, with environmental conditions capable of compressing or extending each phase.