Hello All!

Beekeepers in these days are often quoted as saying, “My survivor bees are 
darker”,  or “My bees are getting darker than they once were”.   

In the fascinating article by Steve Sheppard,  “Selection and possibilities 
within honey bees – be careful what you are selecting for”.

<http://www.beeculture.com/storycms/index.cfm?cat=Story&recordID=480>

Steve writes:  

“In 1929, a Russian honey bee scientist visiting the U.S., Dr. Alpatov, 
noted that Italian honey bees bred and sold in the U.S. were more yellow in 
color than populations he had studied across Italy. He attributed the color 
difference to U.S. queen producers who actively selected for this trait. 
The tendency of U.S. breeders to produce and sell a brighter queen is 
perhaps understandable, given that such a 'product' could be more easily 
differentiated from the dark bee commonly used by beekeepers prior to that 
time.” (Steve Sheppard)  

Talking only of the Italian honeybee race here,,,

We have breeders starting in the early 1900’s actively selecting for the 
yellow trait in Italians to help differentiate them from the German black 
bee.

With bi-directional selection, is it possible that merely by selecting 
yellow Italians to differentiate them from the German black bee, breeders 
would also have been narrowing their genetic base by selecting against the 
diversity found in the Italian feral population?  In affect, excluding the 
Italian feral population from the genetic pool which will have not 
undergone a change to yellow from domestic breeding practices.

Because beekeepers are now seeing survivor Italians tending to be darker.  
Does this suggest that the feral Italians are leading the recovery in this 
race?  IF it were a domestic honeybee led recovery, wouldn't one expect the 
yellow Italian types to be noticed as the survivors?

Best Wishes,

Joe Waggle 
Ecologicalbeekeeping.com 
‘Bees Gone Wild Apiaries' 
Feral Bee Project:
 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeralBeeProject/

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