This review article deals with characteristics of ontogenesis of the honey bee ectoparasitic mite Varroa jacobsoni Oud. Research data include timing of ontogenesis, sex ratio, morphological differentiation between males and females, order of descendants in relation to the time they are deposited as eggs in the sealed brood, stages and duration of development, number of depositing eggs, output of mature daughters per reproductive cycle, feeding behaviour and, finally, mortality of developing mites. Data presented here have been obtained from the early 80's and are the result of research carried out mainly on European races of Apis mellifera L..