>
>  In this study, the two main breeding populations, one in the west and the
> other in the southeastern US were analyzed and it was determined that the
> individual bees were, genetically speaking, about equal parts both Italian
> and Carniolan. But I still hear folks swear they have Italian bees that act
> one way and Carniolans that act another way, something I have not observed
> as haplotype related but have seen at the colony level regardless of the
> color of the bees or their advertised ancestry.
>

Anecdotal evidence at best, but I have run colonies with purchased queens
that were advertised as "Italian", "Carniolan" and "Russian" (along with
others that make no claim as to their origin) over the past 10+ years.
I performed no tests to verify. My geographic location has a nectar dearth
typically between July 1 and August 15th. The colonies sold as "Italian"
(along with some that make no claim as to their origin) continue to
maintain large brood nests and, if given the opportunity, will eat all of
the honey that they gathered in the spring flow providing nothing for
extraction (if not taken off). The colonies sold as "Carniolan" and
"Russian" typically restrict their brood nest and maintain honey reserves
throughout the dearth.

I typically need to remove supers before July 1 each year in order to
ensure the honey crop isn't entirely eaten. Some years life catches up to
me and I'm not able to get to it until the middle or end of July. When that
occurs, I can tell what hives were "predominantly" "Italian"
(showing significantly less extractable honey compared to a month prior) as
opposed to "predominantly" something else (showing significantly more
extractable honey compared to their "Italian" counterparts).

Having worked what I believe to be "Italian", "Russian" and "Carniolan"
stocks (or at least predominantly) I find it hard to imagine that, in the
US, what is sold as each type of strain (or at least Italian vs. Carniolan)
doesn't perform considerably differently. Perhaps that's part of
my resistive beekeeping tendencies sticking out though.

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