How do eastern honeybees defend themselves against varroa mites?

The eastern honeybee (Apis cerana) has coevolved with the varroa mite and utilizes several natural defense mechanisms to prevent serious colony damage:

• Grooming: Adult worker bees regularly groom one another, effectively picking off the mites and killing them.1
• Brood Management: Eastern honeybees limit the reproductive success of the mites by primarily restricting them to the drone (male) brood, which constitutes less than 5 percent of the colony's population.1
• Removal of Infested Brood: If mites attempt to infest the worker (female) brood, the adult bees identify the infested pupae and carry them outside the colony to limit the parasite's spread.1

These behaviors are highly effective, as phoretic mites—those in their traveling life stage—are particularly vulnerable to grooming and experience high fatality rates within eastern honeybee colonies. In contrast, western honeybees lack these coevolved defenses, making them significantly more vulnerable to the parasite.1