Great refs Pete!

I would suspect that banking of queens, esp when in wire screened cages
that can cause the loss of tarsal claws, could be a factor.  But, again
following Occam's Razor, there may be other simple explanations.

A few that stand out are:

   1. Introduction of queens into colonies of unrelated bees.  Low
   acceptance rate has oft been reported when introducing Russians into
   Italians, or Europeans into Africans.  There'd be every reason to expect
   some degree of similar problems even between more closely related stocks.
   2. Pettis' recent findings, using data loggers in shipped boxes of
   queens, that chilling during shipment resulted in pronounced premature
   failure.
   3. Juliana Rangel's finding that even low residues of some miticides in
   the cell cup wax can result in queens with poor production of pheromones
   from their mandibular glands, as well as premature failure of sperm in
   their spermatheca.

The last is of great interest, since it is a change that has occurred since
the early 1990's.  Pete, have you found any reports from other continents
or islands re increased rates of queen failure post the introduction of
varroa?


-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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