Previous findings included that:

the Asian hive bee is ideally suited to the PNG environment and will spread throughout the PNG mainland;

the mite V. jacobsoni, whose natural host is the Asian hive bee, cannot reproduce on the European honey bee in PNG and will not present a serious problem for beekeeping there;

spread of T. clareae, whose natural host is the giant honey bee Apis dorsata, is via feral European honey bee populations and is restricted to the Highlands;

in the absence of control with chemical acaricides, invasion of a European honey bee colony by T. clareae invariably leads to death of the colony; and

chemical control of T. clareae in hived colonies would be possible but expensive and, as the mite is apparently killing all feral honey bee colonies, eradication appears a realistic option.