> ...and what do you think about to use FABIS(complete) + mit.DNA (Molecular tool) FABIS (simplifed)...not too accurate?

One of the hot topics at the Bee Research Conference this winter was the fact that we cannot get the information we want from the tests we have. Wing length is just preliminary, it can pick out extremes but not shades. Wing pattern is similarly susceptible to ambiguous results, shades of gray. 

Using the DNA, whether mitochondrial, or genomic, is still perilous, because we are using "markers" and these are only correlative. The presence or absence of genetic markers only places the samples within predefined categories. Finally, these markers do not relate in any way to behavioral traits. 

As we have seen, there are African bees with acceptable behavior and European bees with unacceptable behavior. I thought it was interesting, however, that the paper on bees in Puerto Rico clearly showed the shift from long to short wings corresponding to the takeover by African bees.

This further persuaded me that European bees are bigger, have always been bigger, and the presence of exclusively smaller bees indicates complete Africanization. There is no real gray area in the case of regions where Africanization is complete, only in the hybridization zone. It may be that the entire US is now a hybridization zone.

Just my $.02

Pete

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