Hi Dee

Let's try and get this issue back on the rails...

 > Maybe in today's modern world and concerning artificially
 > enlarged bees

You may contend that bees are artificially enlarged today, but that is 
not a widely accepted view. But even if it were true, how would it 
impact on thelytoky ?

 > bees that are not allowed to outmate,

Out mating is only one of several mating strategies that bees themselves 
use, some breeders follow what the bees themselves do (whether that be 
inbreeding or out breeding) in order to propagate the characters of the 
race concerned as opposed to generating a bee that is so hybridised that 
it is unrecognisable as any particular race.

Getting back to thelytoky, you say...

 > the trait is readily found in most all races

While it is found, it is not readily found... In the last decade there 
are only two colonies, that I know of, where the trait was discovered, 
one of these was in UK and the other in Australia. I should further 
qualify this by saying that in both countries the bees were being 
actively sought by researchers. Such numbers do not support your use of 
'readily found'.


Regards & Best 73s, Dave Cushman, G8MZY
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman or http://www.dave-cushman.net
Short FallBack M/c, Build 6.02/3.1 (stable)

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