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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Robert Brenchley <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 2 Mar 2002 17:45:37 EST
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<<Huestis,
With all due respect, I wonder if you read the whole message, including this
part:
>The phenotype of the Dark honeybee has not substantially changed,
 >neither in the last millenium in Europe nor by transplantation to
 >the southern hemisphere (Tasmania and New Zealand) during the last
 >150 years. -- from "The Dark European Honey Bee" by Friedrich
 >Ruttner, 1990

Ruttner is saying that *he measured* bees found preserved from a thousand
years ago, bees preserved from 150 years ago, and from today, and they are
not different in size. If there was a substantial downsizing in the past 100
years *don't you think he would have mentioned it?* Why would ne not mention
it? And please, I never said that bees were made bigger by foundation. I was
pointing to the fact the Apis mellifera mellifera, having evolved in cold
climates, has always been a fairly big bee, compared to African and Asian
types. (Note: Not all temperate bees are bigger, not all non European bees
are smaller. There are exceptions.)

pb>>

    Ruttner didn't measure complete bees from 1000 years ago; only fragments
were found. Complete specimens exist from the mid-18th Century.
Unfortunately, Ruttner doesn't give complete measurements, and concentrates
on wing morphology. The one thing which can be said with certainty with
regard to size is that the wing size has remained unchanged for a thousand
years. In order to settle this one finally, someone would probably need to
re-examine the historical specimens, and take new measurements. First,
however, we'd need to agree on which were the essential measurements to take,
and settle on ones which would remain unchanged in a long-dried specimen, and
which could be taken without damaging the precious remains.




Regards,

Robert Brenchley
[log in to unmask]
Birmingham UK

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