>> [Fumagllin] works like a champ against
>> N. apis, and has yet to result in
>> "resistant strains" despite decades of use,
>> including all possible misuses.

> You have no basis for this statement.

Could you offer a basis for claiming I have no basis?  I'll defer to the
various Apiarists with state/provincial authority on this issue, but I've
never heard of any "resistant" N. apis.

> fumagillin has been implicated as
> contributing to the near universal
> replacement of N. apis by N. ceranae.

How so, given that N. ceranae is an invasive species to the Western
hemisphere?

Could it be that the wider and repeated Fumagillin use as a result of the
invasion of N. ceranae has led to all that Fumagillin making N. apis far
less prevalent?

> But beyond that, the taxonomy of Nosema spp is far from clear.

Yeah, I know - is it really a fungi, or a paramecium?  I don't care how they
classify it, as the taxonomists have never helped to control the problem.

 But it seems indisputable that we have clear "strains" of N. ceranae out
there, and they clearty can be identified and differed, and in the process,
clearly differentiated from N. apis.  And it also seems clear than some N.
ceranae strains are more virulent than others.

> N. apis, N. ceranae, N. bombi, N. bombycis....
> [are] fully capable of mutating

Sure, into variant strains, but not into each other!

> and exchanging genetic material.

I'd have to see some examples of that.  What has been seen is completion
where N. ceranae strains generally tend to persist well into summer, where
N. apis tends to be less of a problem once the bees get a steady supply of
nectar or feed.  No one has shown me a hybrid of the two.

> Add antibiotics to the mix
> and you create a recipe for
> the generation of newer
> more virulent forms.

This is pure speculation to my knowledge.  If anyone has an example of this,
I'd be interested in reading about it.

What I've got at hand is massive data from decades of use of Fumagillin
without the appearance of a more virulent or resistant N. apis, followed by
the spread of "N. ceranae" to our shores, yet another invasive exotic
pathogen from the other side of the planet, brought her by unregulated trade
using uninspected containers full of goods that should contain nothing
alive, but instead deliver a wide range of agricultural nightmares.

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