There is one glaring inaccuracy in the FidoNet post. The "killer bees"
now spreading through the western hemisphere are descended from
colonies of Apis mellifera scutellata, a race of honey bee native to
southern Africa, which were brought to Brazil for experimental purposes in
1956. The idea was to breed a bee better adapted to the tropical
conditions in Brazil than were the European races already present.
Through tragic accident, a number of the scutellata colonies absconded.
Descendants of these (the killer bees) are hybrids, the result of matings
between the Africans and local European populations. While German bees
(A.m. mellifera) may be as ill-tempered as African bees, they are not the
ancestors of the infamous killer bees.
 
 
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         Thomas W. Culliney           *  Phone: (808) 973-9529
         Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture  *  Facsimile: (808) 973-9533
         Division of Plant Industry   *  E-mail: [log in to unmask]
         1428 South King Street       *
         Honolulu, Hawaii 96814       *
         U.S.A.                       *
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         "...but in the minds of most men, the learned as well as the
         vulgar, the idea of the trifling nature of his pursuit is so
         strongly associated with that of the diminutive size of its
         objects, that an _Entomologist_ is synonymous with every thing
         futile and childish."--Kirby & Spence (1816)
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