Australia has already spent over $100 million dealing with Varroa mite. Here’s what we can do next

Kate Mounsey; Lucy Miles; Robert Harvey; Roy Barkan

doi:10.64628/AA.564xgshvc

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Australia has already spent over $100 million dealing with Varroa mite. Here’s what we can do next

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Australia has already spent over $100 million dealing with Varroa mite. Here’s what we can do next

Kate Mounsey, Lucy Miles, Robert Harvey and Roy Barkan

The Conversation, Vol.22 June 2026

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64628/AA.564xgshvc

Appears in Thompson Institute Research Collection

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Abstract

agriculture

bees

pesticides

RNA

Varroa

honeybees

RNA interference

Varroa mites

Thompson Institute Special Collection

Other Collaborations

The honeybee mite, Varroa destructor, finally breached Australia’s biosecurity defences four years ago, and is here to stay. Even more concerning, our standard treatments – such as specialised pesticides – are already failing. What does this mean for Australians, and what can we do about it? Roughly the size of a pinhead, the parasitic mite is regarded as the most destructive pest of honeybees worldwide. It feeds on bees, weakening colonies and causing their collapse. For decades, Australia was the only continent free of the mite. That changed in 2022, when Varroa was detected in sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle, New South Wales. An ambitious eradication campaign was launched, but abandoned by 2023. Today, Varroa is established across much of Australia’s eastern and southern states. The focus has shifted from eradication to management, and we now face a new threat – treatment-resistant mites.

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Title: Australia has already spent over $100 million dealing with Varroa mite. Here’s what we can do next
Authors: Kate Mounsey - University of the Sunshine Coast
Lucy Miles - University of the Sunshine Coast
Robert Harvey - University of the Sunshine Coast
Roy Barkan - University of the Sunshine Coast
Publication details: The Conversation, Vol.22 June 2026
Publisher: Conversation Media Group
Date published: 2026
DOI: 10.64628/AA.564xgshvc
ISSN: 2201-5639
Copyright note: © The Conversation Media Group. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Grants: Precision receptor-specific miticides for safeguarding Australian bees, DP250101662, Australian Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - ARC
Organisation Unit: School of Health - Biomedicine; School of Health; Thompson Institute; Centre for Bioinnovation
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991243599002621
Output Type: Magazine article

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