A previous study of the lychee mite Aceria litchii showed that mites could become attached to the bodies of honey-bees as they foraged on infested florets but evidence that this process resulted in infestation by the mites of flower paricles visited subsequently by bees, was not acquired. The present study, which followed the development of erinose symptoms on flower panicles on uninfested trees from a single infested panicle, showed that infestation was correlated with the sequence of flower opening and bee visitation © Rapid Science Ltd. 1998