Huestis,
With all due respect, I wonder if you read the whole message, including this
part:
>The phenotype of the Dark honeybee has not substantially changed,
 >neither in the last millenium in Europe nor by transplantation to
 >the southern hemisphere (Tasmania and New Zealand) during the last
 >150 years. -- from "The Dark European Honey Bee" by Friedrich
 >Ruttner, 1990

Ruttner is saying that *he measured* bees found preserved from a thousand
years ago, bees preserved from 150 years ago, and from today, and they are
not different in size. If there was a substantial downsizing in the past 100
years *don't you think he would have mentioned it?* Why would ne not mention
it? And please, I never said that bees were made bigger by foundation. I was
pointing to the fact the Apis mellifera mellifera, having evolved in cold
climates, has always been a fairly big bee, compared to African and Asian
types. (Note: Not all temperate bees are bigger, not all non European bees
are smaller. There are exceptions.)

pb