Most honey bee proteins identified in V. destructor were found in both stages, but almost 41.8% were uniquely identified in foundresses (parasitizing purple-eyed honey bee worker pupae) or dispersing mites (parasitizing adult nurse bees). The proportion of these proteins that had previously been identified in honey bee hemolymph (ref. 50 ) was highest in proteins unique to foundresses and lowest in proteins unique to dispersing mites with shared proteins intermediate, as indicated by the darker-colored sections.
