Hello Brian & All,

I spoke with Australia by phone last week. Here are the facts so each can
decide.

First there is no infestation  in Australia apiaries and so far all cerana
swarms are being trapped and destroyed.

Second the *original cerana swarm* (from the ship mast) was killed and the
hive examined by the worlds foremost ( in my opinion) bee researcher Denis
Anderson and no T. claireia ( spelling of clareia most like is incorrect but
most on the list should know the varroa like parasite I refer to). My point
is that because no T. claireia was found in the original swarm then none
will be found in the swarms from the original cerana swarm.

Third the find was a long way from the package bee shippers hives.

Fourth cerana does not cross with mellifera and is such a poor honey
producer and defender of its nest most see little danger to the Australia
bee industry.

I am unable to read the site Brian posted as I am not at a internet hookup
so not sure what the web site said. I will say I speak with Australia
monthly ( at least 12 times a year) and have since 2005. 60-70 one hour
phone conversations and Terry Brown ( Browns Bees Australia) has visited me
for days at a time on three different occasions. As Australia's second 
largest package producer Terry Brown (and friend of Denis Anderson) Terry 
consults with Denis on cerana weekly.
To my knowledge the above points are true as told to me by one of
my closest friends from Australia. Maybe Trevor W. or Peter D.from Australia
will add information or correct parts of the information I presented .

More importantly we could get a a. cerana swarm infested with the parasite 
T. claireia any day now from  containers arriving from Asia. After 
personally researching T. claireia I do not see this parasite as the worst 
issue we could get. Researchers have harped for years the two worse problems 
to effect the commercial U.S. beekeeping industry would be Africanized bees 
( not) & T. claireia ( easily killed with the same methods used to control 
varroa although bad news for feral bees perhaps).

In my opinion the number one problem for commercial U.S beekeepers would be 
a swarm of the cape bee. The bee cripples and kills hives of other than cape 
hives. Once the cape workers replace the hives workers with cape workers the 
hive collapses and then the cape workers move to the next hive. It would 
take years and perhaps decades for the industry to see the full effects but 
in Africa no real solution has been found to keep the cape bee from 
replacing other races in Africa.

bob

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