Great points, Pete, but I would still guess the implication that there are likely genes that could be tweaked or adapted. I wasn't thinking when I mentioned scutellata--it's the ancestor of AHB in th eAmerica's, not the EHB's in Europe--thanks! I saw a map recently on the distribution of varroa in Africa, but can't locate it. I'm wondering what the tolerance for varroa is among the various African races of bees. Randy ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************