>In support of my contention that so called ferals are not different

> from bees in colonies that are raised from locally available honey
> bees and/or simply allowed to requeen themselves:


Peter,
I greatly respect your opinion, but now that I've read the article that you
cited, I don't come to the same conclusion.  The authors state:
"Our current genetic data support demographic
evidence... that populations of
Australian feral honey bees are self-sustaining and that
they do not rely on escapees from commercial colo-
nies for continued existence."

Randy Oliver

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