At 10:38 AM 9/15/98 +0000, you wrote:
 
>Although both Smith and Ruttner are reputable researchers they based
>their research on a very old fashioned and practically useless
>technique - morphomentrics - which distinguishes bees on a basis of
>wing vein angles and a bunch of other screw balled measurements.
 
Oh my gosh Garth, this is blast-O-me! How in the world could you say such a
thing when so much in the USDA BS morphing is based on this pre WWII
research in Germany. My ears are bigger then yours so I must be purer.
 
>I believe that the only real tell tale distinguishment between bee
>races can be made by various genetic techniques. Of these various DNA
>fingerprinting techniques (OK, but suspect to being messed up by
>random factors etc) and sequencing of certain characterisitic regions
>seems to be the best way of distinguishing a species. I believe as
>yet the results of such work has not been released. This is for
>fingerprinting work. Nobody has the cash to do comprehensive
>sequencing surveys of AHB races.
 
The OJ trial in Hollywood showed what reasonable people who are informed by
the biggest legal minds think about DNA. This is not to say that I do not
believe that DNA ,or OJ did not kill his wife, is not a good tool and I
have been impressed myself with tests that can determine the food source of
individual strains of imported insects but suspect with honeybees our BS
has read more into this science then is really there. Too much reminds me
of getting finger prints from a man with no hands so you would use his ears
as it must be that no two sets of ears are the same.
 
It is interesting to note that when the USDA put a effort into finding the
zone of translocation between Mexican Afro bees and Texas bees via the
latest DNA methods it was/has never been found and thats why the
story/exclamation is that Afro bees migrate into an area and take over the
hives which is pure BS.
 
Tex-Mex bees moved to California have not migrated into the local bees
after years of such movement at a time that includes the early spring
swarming season. Bees moved into California from Texas in the spring
contain large and increasing populations of drones compared to few in the
over wintering local hives, this alone would allow for the increased
possibility of early virgin queens mating with Tex-Mex bees. Of course this
has happened and without a problem. It also must be remembered that all
bees that are moved into California do not necessarily return to the state
of their origin and some could be moved to the North (Washington state) for
Apple pollination before moving East (North Dakota) for honey production
and then South (back to Texas). I should say this is an over simplification
of what actually happens and really know of no such movement but would bet
the farm that it has happened knowing the great love beekeepers have for
the smell of diesel and pollination cash.
 
Early tests in California before the so called Kern County "1st find of
Afro bees in the USA" was able to show one feral hive, (out of many
identified from boarder to boarder in California), that over the years
continues to be 100% African using all know tests. This hive was docile as
was all other feral and hive honey bees tested up to the Kern County find
using morphometrics which continues to be the backbone of regulatory
testing for Afro bees. This fact alone should set off a red flag and
questions on what we are looking for and that maybe we need to understand
why individual hives and hives in individual locations are aggressive. When
we understand this then we could possibly show a difference between
different strains or races of bees. This work has never been done or even
started and is basic.
 
IMHO. I have stood alone ostracized for years as I do not believe what
others have reported as scientific fact and present as scientific evidence
is understood by the reporters or is truly the results of the cross
breeding of bees with African drones because so much can not be explained
or is explained away in ways that have nothing to do with science. In the
Kern County African bee story the more times individual hives were tested
the more Africanized bees were found but not consecutively. That is one
hive would test negative and then in a repeat of the test a few weeks later
would be positive. When it became apparent that these hives had been
requeened with Northern California stock that spring all testing was
halted. This is one reason why the quarantine had to be lifted and one
reason why in the US all federal regulatory quarantines stopped for fear of
a law suit that could not be defended by the government. Texas continues to
test but their quarantine is political and like a skive and Texas bees can
be found in all bee keeping commerce via movement by truck and mail.
 
What I do believe is that if my dog or my bees kill my neighbors kids for
what ever reason that after the 2nd or third kid I will no longer have a
dog or bees. Some who for their own personal reasons would have the public
believe that African bees are more dangerous then European races of bees
and have killed more people then European bees and they have inflated the
numbers but this is false and world health statistics have not shown any
real changes in bee caused deaths. Statistics in the US actually may show a
small decrease in "honey" bee caused deaths in the years since the advent.
This fear mongering may get increased government BS funding for study but
have had a very negative impact on the beekeeping industry in the US with
many public and private bee pasture areas now out of bounds for the keeping
of bees and increased expense because of unreasonable insurance
requirements in others.
 
ttul, the OLd Drone
 
Follow the daily public hype of the "killer" bee & worm story at:
http://beenet.com/bnews.htm
 
(c)Permission is given to copy this document
in any form, or to print for any use.
 
(w)OPINIONS are not necessarily facts. USE  AT OWN RISK!