Dick writes:
> I doubt very much that anyone in history has ever seen one example of hybrid vigor in honey bees.  In the first place hybrid vigor, while talked about a lot, is actually a very rare phenomena.  I know of no evidence at all that anyone has ever made even one highly inbred line of honey bees, much less two. 

I posted advertising copy a few weeks ago which hyped so-called hybrids. I agree with you that most people don't know what a hybrid really is, but the literature on honey bee heterosis is pretty extensive. Whether these are true hybrids or not is discussed extensively. Hybrid is definitely a term that is misused generally but it still has meaning.

some key papers:

Cale Jr, G. H., & Gowen, J. W. (1956). Heterosis in the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.). Genetics, 41(2), 292.
Rothenbuhler, W. C., Kulincevic, J. M., & Kerr, W. E. (1968). Bee genetics. Annual Review of Genetics, 2(1), 413-438.
Witherell, P. C. (1976). A story of success--the Starline and Midnite hybrid bee breeding programs [Apis]. American Bee Journal (USA).
Oldroyd, B. P., & Goodman, R. D. (1988). Inbreeding and heterosis in queen bees in relation to brood area and honey production. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, 39(5), 959-964.
Oxley, P. R., & Oldroyd, B. P. (2010). The genetic architecture of honeybee breeding. In Advances in insect physiology (Vol. 39, pp. 83-118). Academic Press.

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