Bob wrote:
> Interesting hypothesis but I need to remind all that other than a very few people. AHB has had little actual research. Many researchers I have spoken with say they want no part of digging though hives of AHB counting mites & brood.

Actually, plenty has been done on this topic. The question is not
whether African bees are resistant to mites, but how. Apparently, the
African drones can contribute this resistance to European bee
populations. So if you are keeping European bees in an Africanized
zone (like Arizona, Texas, or Florida), open mated queens pick up
African genes and develop mite resistance. Think about this when you
see claims of mite resistant bees!

> Although the mite has caused severe losses of honeybee colonies and has eliminated wild bee populations in temperate climates, it does not appear to be a serious pest in
regions of the world where the Africanized honey bees (AHB) exist.

> the results showed that the addition of genes through Africanized males helps to confer resistance to European honeybees by means of changes in mite fertility and grooming behavior.

from:

"A multifactorial study of the resistance of honeybees Apis mellifera
to the mite Varroa destructor over one year in Mexico"
by Luis MONDRAGÓN, Marla SPIVAK, Rémy VANDAME
Apidologie 36 (2005)

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