Hi Tomas
 
Thanks for the great post - I will answer as best I can. Sorry to
answer so late - I have been in Durban!! (coincidence??)
 
> greetings garth et al.!  have some questions you all may be able to
> answer...
> can anyone update me on the "capensis syndrome"? is this like the
> equivalent of
> "africanization" in the americas? how far has it spread: in particular,
> has it reached
> durban? does anybody keep european bees in the affected areas? are there
 
Yes, the capensis syndrome is basically a sundrome wherebye the cape
bee can replicate through it's workers alone. I recently asked an
expert as to whether a cape queen which is unfertilised can lay eggs
which develop into workers and the answer was a tentative yes. This
means that one cape bee can in theory infect an area in time, as it's
ovaries will not be supressed by an other race of queen, hence if it
ends up in another race's hive, it will lay a few eggs that will
develop into pure capensis workers, which will in turn either infect
other hives, or , may just become laying workers in that hive
themselves. When it becomes time to raise a new queen,  it will often
be raised of a cape laying worker egg. - A technical problem.
 
I believe the cape bee will have made it to Durban, even if not
officially, as I know a beekeeper here who used to move his bees (800
colonies) up to the Durban area every year for the eucalyptus flow
until this was banned.
 
Keeping european bees in infected areas - it is doubtful whether in
any region of africa keeping european bees is wise as they are too
timid to ward of robbers, both animal, human and other bees. I have
heard of beekeepers keeping italians in both the cape and the
johannesburg regions, but I think they delude themselves. I know of
an elderly beekeeper here who for many years kept italians that he
payed a hig price for. One year he marked his queens and found that
after a month they had been superseded 100% of the time. In my region
I believe, seeing as all the natural colonies are capensis, a
european queen would stand no chance.
 
> any
>  known correlations between bee types and aethina tumida
> infestation/damage?
 
I am not sure, but have heard once again that the imported races are
more susceptible to most diseases than the locals - that includes the
foul broods which are hardly ever found here. I would personally
geuss that this resistance is probably largely due to the fact that
capensis is prone to drifting and that the hive beetles would for
tens of thousands of years have transported pathogens from hive to
hive leading to selection for resistance to both the pathogens and
the beetles.
 
> one reason for my curiosity is a recent interception/extermination of a
> feral hive in a
> florida(usa) seaport on a barge loaded in durban which arrived here with
> about 100 lbs.of bees/comb (confirmed african by morphometrics) after a
> month at sea with at least one stopover (in venezuela)...certainly a
> scenario suggestive of a possible means of introduction of more than one
> already confirmed exotic to these shores; reminds me of the supposed old
> chinese curse about living in interesting times, with a global village
> adaptation about living in shifting paradigms...
 
Yes, you see this would be a problem if there was even the smallest
contingent of capensis on baord, as capensis does not hang around a
dead colony for long. When I move hives I am alwasy intrigued by the
fact that all the bees that return in the morning to find the hive
gone make three or four passes through where the hive was and then
fly away - often to a nearby hive. Another thing to consider here is
that a swarm which set up in Durban harbour would have bee a confused
and silly swarm as there is very little forage anywhere nearby, so
maybe it will be a a venezualean swarm - but then again AHB have not
made it there so it is probably of african origin.
 
Another factor to consider is that a 100pound colony is quite a large
one. Scutellata build up much faster than capensis. However a big
colony of scutellata are more likely to have made themselves
unpopular that the more docile capensis. Scutellata however are
better adapted to surviving under long periods of dearth, such as
would be expected at sea. If however the barge was carrying sugar,
which is likely if it was from durban, then that would not have been
a problem.
 
If there are any of the bees left, the relevant authorities should
maybe consider contacting a bee geneticist, such as Peter Neuman/
Robin Moritz with experience in working with capensis and scutellata.
(I can supply contact e-mails for P.N.)
 
Keep well and thanks for the interesting questions.
 
Garth
 
 
Garth Cambray           Camdini Apiaries
Grahamstown             Apis mellifera capensis
Eastern Cape Prov.
South Africa
 
Time = Honey
 
After careful consideration, I have decided that if I am ever a V.I.P
the I. may not stand for important.
(rather influential, ignorant, idiotic, intelectual, illadvised etc)