SUMMARYFemaleTropilaelaps clareaemites were released into small petri dishes without food, or on small pieces of brood comb containing severalApis melliferalarvae 1–4. days old. On each day of the experiement the piece of brood comb was exchanged for a new one containing larvae of the age being tested. In dishes with no food only 5.5% of mites survived for two days. Survival of gravid female mites was significantly higher than that of thin females. On bee larvae 1, 3 and 3.5 days old, 0%, 9% and 47% ofT. clareaefemales survived until the second day. None survived until the fourth day. However, on bee larvae four days old, 89%, 68%, 32%, 7% and 4% of females were alive on the 2nd, 5th, 10th, 19th and 28th day respectively. Thus,T. clareaefemales can survive for up to four weeks on bee larvae four days old. The amount of brood pheromones on larvae 4–5. days old is greater than that on younger larvae, probably stimulating feeding and thereby supporting mite survival. Fertilized female mites quickly become gravid, and they must enter cells containing bee larvae to lay eggs.T. clareaefemales do not need to feed on prepupae or pupae to lay eggs and to survive for longer periods. Queen honey bees need not be caged after brood removal from the colony in order to control the parasitic miteT. clareae, as by the time any eggs laid have developed into four-day-old larvae the mites will have died.