>Trevor mentioned that the /Amm/ genetics of Australian ferals cause them to be small, black and feisty.  Those of us who breed them find they are large, black and gentle.  We treat feistiness as a sign of Italian introgression as the closer bees are to pure, regardless of race, the gentler they seem to be.  I suspect the Australian ferals are touchy because they are closer to the 50/50 mix of races than the managed colonies.  If they had even more /Amm /then I would expect them to be gentler.

Probably are cross breeds but certainly not as cranky as the A.m.m I saw in Scotland in 2005 although they may have had a bit of iberica in them.  But must admit the A.m.m we saw in Ireland at Apimondia the same year were very gentle.  Our "bush bees" are probably, as Peter suggested, a subset that have evolved as they are so they will survive. 

Peter asked about the Tasmanian A.m.m at Tarraleah.  I do not know what their temperament is like.  Many of the commercial hives in Tasmania are Italian but there are some crosses.  

The main reason given for the change from A.m.m to Italian in Australia back around 1870-1880 was because the Italians handled wax moth much better. 

Trevor Weatherhead
Australia 

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