Barry and all,

Thanks for a very interesting post regarding A.M. Scutellata and A.M.
Capensis. I have a couple of questions and some observations.

1. In regards to Capensis, what in the past has restricted their range to the
Cape area? That is, it seems that given enough time they would have expanded
their range (even if they moved north only a couple of miles a year) and
ultimately taken over the Scutellata (and other races) if they are as deadly as
you describe.

2. It is a testament to good breeding practices that your ApiCrown queens
exhibit behaviour that is radically different from the wild Scuts. I am
guessing that Dr. Kerr selected for similar characteristics that you are
selecting for in ApiCrown queens (or perhaps he didn't). If he did, then can we
assume that the genes for aggressiveness must be dominant and re-establish
themselves when the bees return to the wild? I wonder about this in light of the
so-called "killer bee" phenomenon in the Americas.

The Thelytoky (ability of females to lay diploid eggs resulting in clones of
themselves) exhibited to a high degree by Capensis is present in other races of
Apis Mellifera but probably to a lesser degree. There is a very interesting
paper on this topic by G. DeGrandi-Hoffman, E. H. Erickson Jr., D. Lusby, and
E. Lusby at http://www.beesource.com/pov/lusby/bsmay1991.htm which discusses
their experiments to explore thelytoky in European honeybees with some rather
revealing results. It might appear that, naturally, thelytoky is a valuable
survival strategy for honeybees but is possibly not seen often in European bees
because of normal colony management practices.

For anyone wishing to read a short description of the haploid-diploid nature of
insect reproduction there is a reasonably good explanation at:
http://crsc.calpoly.edu/crsc/Headrick/ipmreproduction.htm

Thanks again,

Stephen Augustine
Bees By The Bay