Hi all

A clip from Bill's post

> Might the difference in cell size (and bee) be due to the climate each
> inhabits? Survival would seem to dictate a smaller bee in hotter
> climates and a larger one in cold or temperate climates

I was thinking that the high altitude Montecola would represent the largest
possibiliy in body size, as it lives at the highest altitude and in a
climate that drops below freezing almost, if not, every night.

As Montecola inhabits a 5.0 cell at low level and 5.1 cells at high
altitude, without any influence from foundation, my thoughts were that
temperate bees would range from 4.83 ish - 5.08 ish and Barry's scuts being
the hottest conditions would occupy 4.3 up to 4.8 ish. The numbers may not
be very precise but they follow a trend.

As bodysize increases the surface are to volume ratio of the individual bee
decreases causing less heat loss, but the other side of this is that smaller
cells allow a closer packing density allowing a higher number of bodies
generating heat, by metabolism, in a given volume. There should be an
equilibrium between these two sets of circumstances , but I do not know
where it lies.


Regards From:- Dave Cushman, G8MZY
Beekeeping and Bee Breeding, http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman
IBList Archives, http://website.lineone.net/~d.cushman