Todd said:
Since A. Mellifera is the baseline for comparison, I wonder how A. Mellifera
ever came to be considered a "native" species?

Although really non native after all these year mellifera is   considered as
*native* by the powers that be and helped along by the  fact our borders
have been closed since the 20's to imports.

Todd asked:
Also, what additional threats (disease, parasites, displacement of native
species, etc.) could A. Cerana really pose?

I doubt any if the introduction was carefully done like with the Russian
queens.

Cerana would have been off the coast of Baton Rouge instead of the Russian
bee and went through the same selection process by Tom R. as the Russian bee
was.

Todd said:
 They seem to occupy the same
niche as A. Mellifera, so it would seem that the worst that could happen is
a resurgance of naturalized (mite & disease resistant) honey bees - a
situation which used to be the norm, and is now looked upon with nostalgia.

My thinking exactly but what does a lowly beekeeper know?

Lastly, I wonder if it could be argued that not allowing A. Cerana use may
be placing U.S. beekeepers at an economic disadvantage relative to Asia? (a
long shot, I grant you...)

Adjusting to change is the way the professional beekeeper survives. In my
opinion there were better choices among the million cerana hives kept for
commercial honey production than there were in Russia with Russian queens .

It will be awhile before I see if my new Russian bees can survive varroa
untreated as I only received the queens a few months ago. I doubt that they
will but will keep an open mind.

All Dr. shiminuki would say about the Russian imports is that they would be
better able to cope with varroa than our current strains. Never has the USDA
said to me the Russian bee  would be able to survive untreated forever.

Bob

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