>Does anyone have any info on the Carniolans in Austria that are reported >to have grooming ability and chew the legs of varroas? I think the >breeders name is Wallner. Alois Wallner's work is very impressive. In 92 I had the opportunity to go to Austria and the Czech Republic to see Wallner program and various Carnica stocks. There is a lot of potential here. Dr. Ruttner (1995, personal communication) states that A.m. carnica colonies demonstrated the rare ability to recognize and destroy Varroa mites. on the average of 10 out of a 1000 colonies. Ruttner and Hanel (1992) found that of the stock selected by Alois Wallner in Austria, 12 of 700 colonies showed a slower Varroa population growth rate. It was determined that 30% to 50 % of mites had been physically damaged by worker bee mandibles. In a letter Ruttner (1995, personal communication) writes, "You will be interested to hear that Alois Wallner is still happy with his selection success. He now has colonies surviving for 5 years without treatment! The number of colonies which are allegedly resistant is constantly increasing." Dr. Vesley, director of the Vyzkumny ustav vcelarsky v Dole in the Czech Republic (1995, personal communication) writes that, "Varroa resistant bee breeding program continues on a broad scale. The work is long term, but already now we have found bees with high ability to harm active mites. Results from here as well as from Austria show that Carniolan bees may be very useful for this breeding type." I've been trying to import semen from Wallner's Carnica stock for about 10 yrs. Despite the help of Dr. Ruttner and Dr. Laidlaw- this has been very frustrating. My first attempt was as a commercial queen breeder in Ca. in 87 - Permit was never approved or denied- just bogged down in bureaucratic red tape. Recenty I tried again with the backing of OSU. - permit was denied in Feb. 95. Ironically, a commercial Calif interest successfully imported semen from Wallner's stock in 94 on what was claimed to be an approved permit. Upon my inquiry, the officials stated they were unaware a permit was issued and were unaware semen had been imported. They claimed to be unable to find any records concerning this and had to request a copy from the importer. The paperwork was apparently signed during a transition of personnel. The importation is now considered illegal, the permit revoked. Importation of semen is a safe and effective means to import stock. To accomplish this, we need a level playing field and pressure coming from the beekeeping industry for a revision of the 1922 law. Susan Cobey Ohio State University Dept. of Entomology 1735 Neil Ave. Columbus, OH 43210 Tel.(614) 292-7928 Fax (614) 292 2180