I was interested to note Andy's comments about Egyptian bees.  I am not sure
of his context but I do recall reading an article where bees in the USA had
some DNA work carried out on them and were shown to be Egyptian in origin.
 
Eleven years ago I researched and wrote a book on the beekeeping history of
Queensland (a State in Australia).  When I was loking at the origins of the
Italian bee in Australia I came across several references to Egyptian bees.
 
Apparently in the American Bee Journal and Gleanings in Bee Culture in the
1890's and early 1900's there is mention made of developing a yellow Italian
by crossing the ligurian bees with Cyprian bees, Egyptian, and Holyland bees.
 
In the 1890's, here in Australia they were importing Punic bees from the USA
and breeding this in Australia.  Apparently the Punic bees originated
from the area around Algeria and Tunisia in north Africa.
 
There was an American, Mr. Frank Benton who had established an apiary in
Cyprus and was exporting Cyprian bees to the USA and Australia.
 
So I suppose it will not be surprising when some DNA work is done to find that
the USA and Australia have a background of many of these races.  Our Italian
today is far removed from those ligurians that were originally imported from
Italy.  In a newspaper article in Australia in 1887 it says "Even in Italy the
purity of the Ligurian strain cannot be universally guaranteed for beekeepers
there are now constantly experimenting with the crosses of Cyprian, Syrian,
Carniolan etc.  It is not unlikely, therefore, that Kangaroo Island will in
time become the depot from which all the world's beekeepers obtain their pure
Italian strain."  Kangaroo Island is an island off South Australia which is a
sanctuary for the ligurian bee.
 
Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA