Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A reddish-brown, oval mite (Varroa destructor) that parasitizes honeybees and can cause the death of colonies.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun beekeeping Infestation with the mite Varroa destructor, or the disease caused by such mites

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin Varroa, genus name, after Marcus Terentius Varro.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the genus name Varroa

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Examples

  • Granma (which, now that I've said it a few times, is a really bad name for any magazine except the house organ of the American Association of Retired People) had "compelling" "evidence" of the U.S. attack, claiming that if the parasite, which is known as varroa, had infiltrated the island naturally, it would've spread from east to west.

    American Beat: Bad Bee-Havior? 2007

  • FLATOW: This was a really interesting story because I don't think many people realized how many bees were being killed by something called the varroa mite, really a tiny vampire which literally sucks the life out of a bee colony.

    The Year In Science: Mysteries of Nature 2005

  • Experts have said possible culprits are a pest called varroa, pesticides, climate change and loss of habitat.

    KESQ.com - Local News 2010

  • Experts have said possible culprits are a pest called varroa, pesticides, climate change and loss of habitat.

    10News.com - Local News 2010

  • The suspected culprits include a blood-sucking mite called varroa, a single-celled fungal parasite called Nosema cerenae that causes bee dysentery and pesticides used in fields that are pollinated by bees.

    EcoEarth.Info Environment RSS Newsfeed 2010

  • Parasitic mites called varroa, agricultural pesticides and the effects of climate change have all been implicated in what has been dubbed "colony collapse disorder" (CCD).

    AllDeaf.com 2010

  • Experts have said possible culprits are a pest called varroa, pesticides, climate change and loss of habitat.

    WSBTV.com - Local News 2010

  • The suspected culprits include a blood-sucking mite called varroa, a single-celled fungal parasite called Nosema cerenae that causes bee dysentery and pesticides used in fields that are pollinated by bees.

    News24 Top Stories 2010

  • One type is highly resistant to the parasitic mite Varroa destructor, commonly known as the varroa mite.

    unknown title 2009

  • Scientists think something called the varroa mite is partly responsible for the bee emergency.

    BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition 2009

Comments

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  • "Coordinator, bee pathologist Dr Peter Neumann, blames a bloodsucking mite called varroa. Little bigger than a pinhead, it has preyed on honeybees in Europe and the US since its arrival 30 years ago. Under a microscope, the reddish-brown mite looks like a cross between a jellyfish and a Frisbee. It activates lethal viruses in honeybees and carries them from bee to bee when it feeds on their blood, like a dirty syringe spreading HIV/Aids."

    - 'Last Flight of The Honeybee?', Alison Benjamin in The Guardian, 2 June 2008.

    June 3, 2008