Hello Mike , Dee and All,

> Hence, I consider it most likely that the thelytoky that is being seen in
> Arizona is non-capensis thelytoky.

Until I saw the slides of Dr. Hoffman, heard her presentation about pseudo
queens in Arizona at the ABF convention in  Savannah, asked her directly at
the end of her presentation is she was refering to capensis traits (her
answer was yes) and Dee came on BEE-L and said that the slides were of Dee's
bees did I think the thelytoky Dees has talked about in her bees was
anything to cause alarm. . Dee said those slides were old slides of her bees
from the early 90's which may be but there is no doubt in my mind Dr.
Hoffman was talking about a serious problem in her eyes and the labs eyes
going on in Arizona TODAY. Maybe those slides from the past of Dees bees
were the best to demonstrate the problem or possibly those were recent
slides of bees with capensis traits I simply do not know without talking to
Dr. Hoffman.   I am glad you are looking into things Mike.

On  the previous occasions, when
> capensis problems became severe, the SINGLE affected research
> apiary and colonies in the vicinity were destroyed by the
> beekeeper/researcher - end of problem.

There is no doubt the same thing would be tried by the USDA in the case of
the Arizona feral colonies. Trap feral colonies and destroy. Probbably will
not work but past USDA history tells me they will try the above solution
first.

This time, when it was first
> noticed, the capensis problems were in dozens if not hundreds of
> commercial apiaries, spread over hundreds of kilometres - and simply
> could not be contained.

I suspect if capensis psuedo queens were found in the migratory bee
operations the situation would be similar to the above scenario. Let us all
hope Mike only finds thelyotky and not  capensis traits and pseudo queens in
Arizona. I do not want to see Dee have to put up with any extra hardship as
her and Ed have had quite a struggle over  the last decade.
I must remind BEE-L Dees bees were never talked about by Dr. Hoffman in her
Savannah talk as I recall. . Dee has added to our BEE-L discussion on her
own trying to help us work through the things Dr. Hoffman said.  Dr. Hoffman
was speaking of capensis traits in the feral black bees of Arizona and those
bees with pseudo queens being a serious threat to pollination if spread
through commercial pollinators.

The USDA needs to try  and solve this capensis issue and soon in my opinion.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison