>
> >I believe that intolerance of wax moth must be related to hygienic
> behaviour, so that is why I place considerable importance on this trait.


Thanks, Peter!  It appears to me that the term "hygienic behaviour" covers a
great number of different sensitivities (likely olfactory) and subsequent
responses.  For example, freeze-killed brood hygiene is a great predictor
for removal of AFB, but not so much for removal of reproducing varroa mites
in brood.

Of course, these various "hygienes" likely involve many of the same alleles
and epigenetic regulation, but appear to be able to be fine-tuned for each
individual parasite.

The fact that there were bees in Britain that allowed wax moth to exist on
the combs is amazing to me--hasn't wax moth been present in Britain for a
great long time?

Here in Calif, it is currently quite hot, and freshly-extracted dark combs
are quickly infested with wax moth.  As soon as we replace such boxes of
combs onto colonies, we can see virtually all the moth larvae, cocoons, and
silk removed to the ground in front of the hive by the next morning.

Randy Oliver

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