Acarapis woodi

Acarapis woodi is an internal parasite affecting honey bees, as they live and reproduce in the tracheae of the bees. The female mite attaches 5–7 eggs to the tracheal walls, where the larvae hatch and develop in 11–15 days to adult mites. The mites parasitize young bees up to two weeks old through the tracheal tube openings. There, they pierce the tracheal tube walls with their mouthparts and feed on the haemolymph of the bees. More than a hundred mites can populate the tracheae of a single bee, weakening the bee. The mites are generally less than 175 micrometres (0.007 in) long.

Image from the public domain.

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