What the heck is this?

[pistolpete]

I saw a bee going nuts on the landing board, trying to groom.  I caught the bee and found this guy in between the wings.  About 1/2 the size of a varroa mite.   Is it a bee louse?

[LazyBkpr]

1/2 the size of a varroa and you got that good a picture of it?  OK, I am impressed...   No idea what it is though.. interested in seeing if anyone else does.

[G3farms]

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/bees/bee_louse.htm

[pistolpete]

well, I guess it's not a bee louse, sure seemed to bother the bee and it was burried in the fur.  Took the picture with a 100 mm macro lens and a +1 diopter filter.   Took about 6 pictures to get a reasonably clean one.

[apisbees]

Pete Do you have John Gates Email if so send him an email and attach the picture he may have come across it or knows who to ask about it.

[efmesch]

1. It's not a bee louse (Braula coeca)
2. In spite of the quality of the picture, it's hard to say what it is.  I would guess a young instar of a mite.  It's hard to tell if those appendages in front are anterior legs (mites have 4 pairs, but the younger instars of some mites have only  3 pairs of legs) or if the body covering is the developing wings of a young instar beetle. 

Copying and pasting the enlarged picture into Google images, I got an identification for a clover mite.