Hi Waldemar

> I also wonder if the primary scouts are recruited in equal numbers or
> proportional numbers from the different patrilines.  Italian race
> father offspring scouts may use slightly different site selection
> criteria than, say, Caucasian race father offspring from the same
> mother queen. 

The answer here lies in the actual differences in the patrilines, in a 
free flight mating zone, none of the patrilines would be pure enough to 
describe as 'Italian race father offspring' or 'Caucasian race father 
offspring'. At best there would be minor differences that stand out from 
the background of the 'average' genetics of the geographic area 
concerned. That is not to say that these minor differences could not 
influence a scout's choice of future home, but that the range of choices 
that can be made is not very wide or starkly different.

The number of patrilines involved will be directly linked to the mating 
frequency exhibited by the queen, which in turn will be linked to the 
race or strain of that queen, but may be adjusted by the degree of 
mongrelisation (hybridisation) of the individual specimen of queen.


Regards & Best 73s, Dave Cushman, G8MZY
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman or http://www.dave-cushman.net
Short FallBack M/c, Build 6.02/3.1 (stable)

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