randy oliver wrote:


>In summary, I find the argument that feral populations are simply managed
>bees that have moved to the trees uncompelling, and not supported by the
>data that I've seen.

Well, not simply. Nothing is ever simple! This from a poster presented at
the Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, 2008:

> The genetic composition of 692 feral honey bee nests collected in the
United States between 1980 and 1992 was analyzed by assessing variation in
the COICOII intergenic spacer region of the mitochondrial DNA and 10
microsatellite loci. 

> The genetic diversity and population structure of these pooled populations
were compared to that of managed breeding populations in the southeastern
and western U.S. The mtDNA analysis revealed that 28% of the feral samples
had haplotype patterns representative of the subspecies Apis mellifera
mellifera or Apis mellifera iberiensis. 

> Of the samples collected from Arizona, over 50% showed a haplotype pattern
characteristic of honey bees found in Spain and/or Italy (M7). A subset of
samples from the feral population with the M7 haplotype were sequenced and
shown to be previously unknown variants of M7. These variants differed from
the M7a and M7b variants known from Spain and Italy, respectively, leaving
their origin unknown. 

> Haplotype patterns characteristic of the European races most
commonly used by commercial queen breeders were found in 66% of the feral
samples.

Source

Deborah A. Delaney, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Walter S. Sheppard, Washington States University, Pullman, WA

* * *

How a population could maintain genetic integrity was described by Jamie
Strange:

A population of honey bees (Apis mellifera
mellifera L.) with an annual colony brood cycle adapted to
a locally abundant floral source in the Landes region of
Southwest France is the subject of genetic conservation
efforts. This population is maintained by local beekeepers
in an area that experiences both an annual seasonal influx
of non-local colonies and the permanent culture of imported
stock. However, some colonies native to the Landes
do not have the adapted brood cycle and their status as
ecotypic are in question. 

Morphological and molecular characterization of the Landes
honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) ecotype for genetic conservation
James P. Strange  Lionel Garnery  Walter S. Sheppard

*******************************************************
* Search the BEE-L archives at:                       *
* http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?S1=bee-l *
*******************************************************