Hello All,
We have been told from the start that scutellata  will parasitise (pseudo
queens) a colony (Austin ABF). The new information published below seems to
cast doubt on what has been put forward by the researchers in the U.S. about
scutellata being the source of U.S. pseudo queens unless AHB has picked up
the pseudo queen activity from capensis on the 40 plus year trek north.

 Nature vol. 415 January 10 2002

 http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/taplab/pdf/mbwrnature2002.pdf

Bee quiz:
What race of bee is docile, is black in color, 10% smaller than other races,
handles varroa better than any other race and builds small cells?

Want another clue?

One worker of this race can enter a hive with a load of pollen or nectar and
start laying fertile eggs which are not policed by the European workers and
take over the whole hive.

answer:
A. mellifera capensis (subject of the above article)

I have been home sick with a virus and have had time to reflect on the
capensis discussion.  After several hours of thought I am going to approach
the subject differently.

reported at last ABF convetion:
 bees (reportedly Africanized by USDA ARS in Tucson) with all the known
characteristics of capensis (presented above) have been found in feral
colonies in Arizona (Hoffman ABF Savannah 2002).


I have had much resistance from a couple people on the list about the use of
the word capensis.

fact: reliable evidence exists saying Dr. Kerr hand carried 62 queens into
Brazil rather than the 26 he admitted to. Two friends of Dr. kerr have told
me some of the queens were capensis. Dr. Kerr was very curious about the
cape bee. In my opinion some of the feral AHB in Arizona carry a mixture of
scutellata and capensis genes.  If released together and they cross why not?

If a few escaped or some of the scutellata queens were a mix of capensis and
scutellata when they *escaped* then here is a very possible scenario in my
opinion about the AHb with pseudo queen activity reported in Arizona.

From page 179 of the excellent book "Africanized Honey Bee in the Americas"
by Dr. Dewey Caron and available now from A.I. Root publishing and other bee
supply houses.

Dr. Dewey Caron:
"One hundred generations of SELECTION *for good beekeeping traits * has
occurred in European bees **BUT** the same number of generations has been
selected for bad beekeeping traits by NATURAL SELECTION by Africanized bees"

Is it possible that the so  called AHb  has simply acquired the *capensis
like* traits  over the last 40 plus years on its way north? Disregarding the
word capensis any bee which parasitises European hives is a threat to U.S.
beekeeping in my opinion.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison