Hello Frank and All,
Questions of Dr. Eric H. Erickson and his answers which are   published at
the Tucson website:

http://www.expert-forum.com/carlhayden_25/_frontend/detail.asp?id=378&langua
ge=1&cat.

http://www.expert-forum.com/carlhayden_25/_frontend/detail.asp?id=379&langua
ge=1&cat.

date 7/21/2002
question:
I attended a talk by Dr. Hoffman in which she spoke and showed slides of
PSEUDO QUEENS  WITH CAPENSIS LIKE TRAITS in the feral bees of Arizona.
I wanted to ask Dr. Hoffman when the talk was over if she was seeing pseudo
queens on a large scale or simply in rare ISOLATED cases.

reply:
Dr. Eric H. Erickson:
We do not know how extensive the occurence of PSEUDO QUEENS is, the work is
ongoing. However, it is ACCURATE to say that it is NEITHER RARE OR ISOLATED.


http://www.expert-forum.com/carlhayden_25/_frontend/detail.asp?id=380&langua
ge=1&cat.

date: 7/21/2002
question:
I have been reading about the cape bee problem in South Africa. Are there
similarities between the PSEUDO QUEEN PROBLEM Dr. Hoffman described and
SHOWED SLIDES OF and THE CAPE BEE PROBLEM IN SOUTH AFRICA?

reply:
Dr. Eric H. Hoffman:
The current belief is that *THEY ARE THE SAME* More research is needed.

http://www.expert-forum.com/carlhayden_25/_frontend/detail.asp?id=388&llangu
age=1&cat.

date:7/28/2002
question:
This is in regard to the pseudo queen problem. HAS THIS TRAIT EVER BEEN
OBSERVED IN THE U.S. BEFORE NOW?

reply Dr. Eric H. Erickson:
TO OUR KNOWLEDGE,THIS PROBLEM HAS NOT PREVIOUSLY BEEN REPORTED IN THE U.S.

This question asked by a friend which is familier to the BEE-L list is
important because Dr. Erickson did not say that pseudo queens had been
observed in the Lusby bees. There is a big difference between normal
thelytoky and pseudo queens. At this point we simply do not know the origin
of the pseudo queen problem IN THE FERAL BEES in Arizona (now verified by
Dr. Erickson) .

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Odessa, Missouri

Ps. I believe Dr. Erickson's comments back up the posts about the things
Blane White and I saw and heard at the ABF convention in Savannah 2002.