<<As to your hypothesis, considering all the surrounding evidence, it makes a
much less complex scenario that some mystical bee that has survived in the
wilds of Arizona the last several hundred years (longer in Dee's accounts,
as she thinks it is a "native" bee, dating from prior to the European
arrival in the New World). When you have two different hypothesis and the
facts favor both, the less complex hypothesis is always the one to be
preferred (wasn't that in science 101?)

K. Oland>>

    There could be a parallel with the situation found in the UK, with some
Amm strains surviving with little admixture of genes from surrounding hybrid
populations. If there was an older population in which the queens and drones
flew at different times to the local 'Italian' population, or remained
distinct by some other mechanism, then that would explain the situation. It
may well be the case that more needs to be learnt about honeybee mating
behaviour.

Regards,

Robert Brenchley
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Birmingham UK