Dear Bee L listers,

I was very fortunate to be visited recently by Dr. Dennis Anderson, who has
studied varroa worldwide. He has got some very good answers to many
questions about varroa. It appears that varroa is a species complex, with
many variations, some here in Luzon in the Philippines, hitherto unnamed.

He confirmed many beekeepers' suspicions that some strains of A. mel exhibit
a mechanism which confuses their reproductive behavior. This seems to
support the present thread we are on.

I wonder if Dr. Anderson's recent papers on this have been posted somewhere
in the net.

Joel F. Magsaysay
ILOG MARIA HONEYBEE FARMS
Cavite, Highlands
Philippines
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Hi,

    Someone in the research community needs to be checking these "survivors"
to find out why they are surviving, i.e., what is the mechanism of
resistance
to varroa? And is this only a mild-climate phenomenon?

reply:

No David. I have seen caucasian type feral bees in upstate NY.  As far as
I'm aware of no one keeps this type of bee in my area and they seem to be
making a comeback.  I'm wondering "WHY" this caucasian type of bee and not
others?

Clay