> Which only matters I guess if you are buying queens reputed to live a long time in hopes of getting workers that also live a long time.

Which is myopic, at best. The prosperity of a colony doesn't depend on the longevity of the workers, for Pete's sake. If anything, your bees would be better off with a high replacement rate and *short-lived* bees, at least in summer. One of the tasks of older bees is to remove pathogens by *flying off and dying".

A colony's well being depends on far more factors than how long the bees last. Honey bees can live up to ten months, so what. People can live to be 115, what does that mean? That means they would be retired for as long as they had worked, and have to be supported the whole time by us younger folks!  ; )

Anyhow, I doubt anyone has a grasp of how long bees live and whether it's heritable. We are finding that many things that have to do with colony health are not genetic at all. For example, this fall colony collapse is being linked to drought and poor nutrition. Secondly, the micro-fauna of bee hives may be just as important, if not more important, than the genetic composition. 

Further, good management is and always will be paramount. Let-alone beekeepers will do OK in certain locales with certain types of bees. The rest of us need to work smarter. Knowledge is power; ignorance is expensive.

PLB

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