Hi All.

    A British beekeeper named John Hewitt imported some 'Punic' bees from
Tunisia in the late 19th Century, around 1890 as far as I can make out. ROB
Manley gives 1892, but isn't certain, and as this was the year Hewitt
published his (first) discovery of thelytoky in these bees, one has to allow
him time to find it.  It's also reported that the hives would tolerate
multiple virgins. The bees are reported as having been 'small black,
spiteful, and with the curious habit of biting as well as stinging'. Hewitt
wasn't an altogether reliable witness; apparently he over-hyped his 'Punic'
queens to the point of claiming them as 'proof against foul brood', and
started a short-lived bee magazine for the purpose of carrying on a feud with
the editors of the British Bee Journal. It's difficult to see why he would
lie about the laying workers, however, and the other points are confirmed by
ROB Manley. A man named Frank Benton also imported 'Punic' bees to the States
at around the same time, though I'm not sure where he was (wouldn't be
Arizona, I suppose?)

    I assume that Tunisian bees would be A.m. intermissa. If thelytoky and
multiple queens are found in bees from both ends of Africa, that suggests
that these characteristics are probably more widespread than commonly
realised. What I haven't seen is incontrovertible evidence of thelytoky in
native European bees, though it may be out there somewhere.

Regards,

Robert Brenchley

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Birmingham, UK.