Samuel Ramsey’s (aka Dr. Buggs) visit and talk at OIST
Dr. Samuel Ramsey (also know as Dr. Buggs), a postdoctoral researcher at the USDA Maryland is a honey bee mite expert and parasitologist and visited our unit from August 11 to 16, 2019.
We were lucky to host and hear his fantastic talk “Despicable Mites: Recent Findings in the Study of Two Honey Bee Parasites” with a focus on his recently published work on how and where Varroa destructor feeds on its honey host (spoiler alert: it feeds on fat body and not hemolymph as it was though for decades!). Samuel also shared about his ongoing project in Thailand to better understand the biology of another terrible mite Tropilaelaps mercedesae and its behavioral interactions with its honey bee host in the native range. Learning from past mistakes with V. destructor global invasion, Samuel plans to learn from this already terrible parasite and help preventing its spread out of Asia.
We look forward to hearing more about his research and fieldwork in Asia, and keep collaborating with him on the world biogeography Varroa mites project.