> Bill thought CCD, aka Disappearing Disease, might be a genetic defect. Simply stated, these bees had AHB genes, and he suspected that they couldn't survive the cold winters. Or it could have been due to some other problem with the hybrid. " Our goal was to determine if the frequency of asymmetrical individuals in workers that were offspring from the crosses was greater than in pure African or European workers. ... The higher frequency of asymmetric individuals suggests that European bees and their hybrids may be less fit relative to African bees. We also found that workers from crosses between European and African queens and drones differ in overall wing size and shape that could affect wing aerodynamics and flight ability." Schneider, S. S., Leamy, L. J., Lewis, L. A., DeGrandi-Hoffman, G. The influence of hybridization between African and European honeybees, Apis mellifera, on asymmetries in wing size and shape. 2003. Evolution 57(10). pp. 2350-2364. **************************************************** * General Information About BEE-L is available at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm * ****************************************************