A tiny mite that has devastated mainland honeybee populations showed up in Honolulu hives for the first time this month and has now been confirmed in bee colonies across Oahu.

Varroa mites are most likely responsible for the enormous number of bee deaths during the 2004-2005 winter. Normally beekeepers expect to lose 5-10% of their bees, but this winter may beekeepers are losing more than 50% to mite infestations

According to apiarists in Arizona, Africanized bees and organically raised European bees are not being affected by CCD and mites to the same extent that other bees are, suggesting that normal practices like geneticaly engineering bees and feeding them protein supplements may be destructive in the long run.

Tiny mites from East Asia have infected American bee populations, lowering their immune systems and damaging developing bees. The mites can damage a hive very quickly.