On 3/26/2016 12:05 PM, Peter Loring Borst wrote:
>> "Eastern European and Western European lineages " What is meant by this?
> Honey bees are divided into four or five lineages, called M, C, A, O and sometimes Y.
>
> M = Western European (references samples used in the study = A. m. mellifera and A. m. iberiensis)
> C = Eastern European (samples used = A.m. carnica and A. m. ligustica)
> A = African ( used = A. m. scutellata)
>
I suspect Chris was questioning the term "Western" when applied to /Amm. 
/As he pointed out their natural range spreads as far East as the Urals 
and could equally be termed "Eastern" as some are East of carnica and 
ligustica.

Trevor mentioned that the /Amm/ genetics of Australian ferals cause them 
to be small, black and feisty.  Those of us who breed them find they are 
large, black and gentle.  We treat feistiness as a sign of Italian 
introgression as the closer bees are to pure, regardless of race, the 
gentler they seem to be.  I suspect the Australian ferals are touchy 
because they are closer to the 50/50 mix of races than the managed 
colonies.  If they had even more /Amm /then I would expect them to be 
gentler.

Steve Rose
North Wales


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