Initially I thought this was early stage varroa but now I’m pretty sure it’s not.
It looks like a tick.
I have no idea we don’t have mites in Australia that I know of.
Not Varroa. Where are you located? My guess is an insect with six legs and those two long things in the front are antennae. Something that lives on debris.
We’re in Berkeley, California, USA. It does kind of resemble a tick as bpmitchell suggested. But ticks on a bottom board? They seemed to be concentrated near the entrance-side of the board.
Looks like a spider mite to me.
The thorax on my photo looks elongated unlike varroa and colored differently.
No, male Varroa are not viable outside of a brood cell.
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It’s a pollen mite…
… how adorable …