>Years ago I made a prediction that resistance in bee stock

> would likely appear earlier in regions of the country which
> *are prime bee habitat, *are distant from commercial
> beekeeping operations, *have a feral population, and
> *experience a moderate degree of winter.


Joe, I agree that the degree of winter is critical.  In milder climates,
there is little selective pressure against the mite if they kill colonies,
since they will be horizontally transmitted to other colonies via robbing.

In areas with cold winters, on the other hand, if the mite kills a colony
during cold weather when there is no robbing, that genetic line of mites
will perish along with the colony.

Randy Oliver

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