Varroa mite is an external parasite (ecto-parasite) that can be seen by naked eye. It is kind of aracnid and its taxonomic hierarchy is as follows:

 

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Arachnida

Subclass: Acari

Order: Mesostigmata

Superfamily: Dermanyssoidea

Family: Varroidae (Delfinado & Baker, 1974)

Genus: Varroa (Oudemans, 1904)

 

Varroa mite causes varroasis disease in bees. Varroaosis was first detected in Greece in 1978, and since then, mites have spread rapidly throughout the country, causing heavy losses in apiculture (Thrasyvoulou, 2005). Battle with varroas is not easy for beekeepers, they use variety of chemicals (coumaphos, malathion, tau-fluvalinate, flumethrin and amitraz) which can also be harmful for bees and effect the quality of honey. (Tananaki, Goras, Huggett, Karazafiris, Dimou, Thrasyvoulou, 2014).