> ...what would happen if "bad" capensis got into the USA commercial stock?
I guess pretty much what occurred in South Africa. Within 12-18 months,
beekeepers would report odd things in their colonies. On inspection, you
will find large numbers of queenless colonies, often with lots of spotty
WORKER brood. Will look like the brood of a very poor queen.

In Lusbys colonies, we saw no queenless colonies in the 100 (approx) we
looked into, and we were deliberately selecting colonies that externally
looked 'different'.

The worker brood patterns were SOLID.

Much more than 12-18 months has passed since the thelytoky phenomena have
first been observed.

> There will be a lot of disturbance and fighting in these colonies, but
almost no defensiveness.

The colonies were reasonably defensive, and organised and calm.

> The bees causing the problems would generally be very black (almost
uniformly), very shiny, very flighty and with extended abdomens.

Dee pointed out some black bees in particular , and declared them 'special'
and necessary in a hive for the desirable characteristics she is seeking,
but they had long wings, not long abdomens, as I recall.  I also remember
them as being small and a bit hairy-looking.

> These laying worker colonies may persist for many months, but will
eventually dwindle to nothing.

We saw no signs of dwindling.  We saw good brood, good organisation and good
build-up.

> Signs are often quite subtle and ambiguous, especially in the beginning.
Parts can be interpreted as failing queens; or bad foulbrood infections; or
robbing; or mild pesticide poisoning.

We saw nothing like that.

> And the bad news is that if it is in one colony in an apiary, then it is
in all colonies in that apiary (but at different stages of infection). And
if it is in one apiary of a commercial beekeeper, then it tends to be in all
(because of they way bees are moved)...

We inspected quite a few Lusby apiaries in different locations and saw none
of the signs mentioned.

allen